Demonic Changes
by Amusebeard
Summary: Minato looked at his wife, who despite having just given birth was still fighting against the Kyuubi. Then he looked at his son, who was just clapping his hands happily at seeing his mother restraining the great beast. Maybe, thought the Hokage, he already has enough physical chakra... Smart!Naruto
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or anything publicly recognizable.**

**AN: I know it may seems like this is a crack story, but I can promise you that the other chapters are a lot more serious than this, even if I'll keep humor there won't be anymore 4th wall destroyment. Because I do think I have shattered that wall quite badly in this chapter *rub back of his head*. Well, anyway, if that's what is keeping you from reading the other chapter, please just try to click that next button and don't stop reading at those crackish moment, it'll get different, and it would be a shame if you just gave up on my story because of that.**

**If I'm asked to, I could even change this chapter a little to eliminate those crackish moments, you only have to ask :)**

_Instead of the Yang chakra, it's the Yin that's sealed inside Naruto. What changes will this bring?_

* * *

_Prologue_

Devastation.

The only thing visible around the area where the previously controlled Kyuubi was located was devastation.

It seems that the old myths describing the nine-tailed Bijuu as Walking Disaster, or Chaos' Bringer were more accurate than what was believed. That was the thought that that jumped in the mind of the Fourth Hokage as he laid his blue eyes on his beloved village.

He didn't have time to ponder, he had to get that beast to a place where he could seal it so it wouldn't endanger anyone anymore. That was his only thought, his drive.

Unfortunately there wasn't any manual written about how to deal with Bijuu, the First Hokage certainly hadn't left any note about it, but he had an idea.

He had to call on the help of the toad boss to hold the beast down for those precious seconds he needed to teleport it to a place where he could seal it as peacefully as possible. His trusted friend delivered, and finally he was able to get the Kyuubi where he wanted it, near his new son and his wife. Even if she was weakened from childbirth, her chain were still the only thing he could think of in short notice capable to actually restrain the nine-tailed Bijuu for the time he needed.

It was with a heavy heart that he reappeared in the field near his family.

Strangely, Kushina was already there, even if he hadn't told her anything. It was as if she knew what was his plan already and just wanted to fulfill what was her duty in it.

In little more than a second he disappeared and reappeared in a yellow flash, his son firmly grasped in his hands.

In another world, one where he was already tormented by his choice of burdening his son with a tailed beast to contain, he wouldn't have thought about which chakra of the Kyuubi, yin or yang, gift to his son. In a split second decision he would have thought that the physical part of chakra was more important for the trials soon to come, maybe subconsciously thinking that with his looks Naruto inherited also his smarts, but in this world, looking at his fiercely struggling wife and then to his son, who was simply clapping his hands in glee, and already moving this way and that to escape his grip, the thought that come to his mind was:

_Well, maybe he already has enough yang chakra,_ a sweatdrop forming behind his head.

And so, he decided to change plans. He couldn't have possibly know how much this would have changed his son and the entire ninja world, about the trials his son would have to go through.

After all, it couldn't possibly be such a big change, right? Yin or yang, what does it change?

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_One year later._

_Konohagakure no Sato._

Bored.

That's what the great nine-tailed Bijuu felt.

A crushing silence permeated the whole prison in which the Kyuubi has been living, if it truly can be called "living", since it has just been sitting still and sleeping for at least six month now. That blond haired ningen didn't know what it had done when it divided its chakra in its yin and yang composition and sealed the yang in himself and the yin in this, this _boy._

It had been the most excruciating pain it had ever felt since, well ever, even worse than the beat down he suffered at the hands of the First Hokage. Sure, it had been one of the most humiliating experiences of its long life, but it wasn't _painful_, Kurama was just a mass of chakra given form, he didn't truly have nerve endings or whatever those thing ningen had to feel pain were called, so pain wasn't something it could ever say to have really experienced.

But that blonde-haired bastard just had to separate his core component, his chakra, and then bring one half of it in the _Shinigami stomach's!_

That caused agony. Sheer pain that only someone who had his soul torn apart could ever say to have experienced.

Just to adjust to the sudden feeling of having only half of his being and soul he spent six long months, in which pain was a constant companion. It didn't decrease, it didn't spike casually, it just was always there, and it was maddening.

Kurama thought that he had lost it there, and more than one time, but miraculously the Kyuubi always managed to somehow regain his sanity, strangely feeling more and more controlled and calm with every bout of insanity survived.

Nearing the end of the sixth month of agony, the pain abruptly disappeared as if it wasn't ever there, which prompted another bout of insanity in which Kurama trashed and screamed his hate for the world for days, flinging metaphysical rocks around his cage till he finally regained his sanity.

And it decided, for the benefit of the author, that it was a male, because for some reason the angst that come being a female demon that sometimes went on heat wasn't present, so the only logical explanation was that it was a male.

_Wait, _he thought, _that wasn't logical at a-_

And then strangely he lost his train of thoughts, his gender reaffirmed in his mind.

He didn't ever think about his gender for all of time, just assuming that it was always male and that he just took a while to discover it.

Yes, that make sense.

After the _male_ fox discovered his gender, he stopped to think about what happened to him. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And think. And t-

You get my point, it's easy to see how after months of doing nothing but thinking he became bored.

He became lazy, a fat-ass, annoying, stupid, and a brat, basically a son of a bitch.

_Hey, I'm no-_

And he was wasting time trying to deny what I just said.

Anyway, now that I'm done with the bashing of a character, seeing as it is absolutely needed in a fanfiction, I can go on with my story.

The fox needed to do something. He came to the realization some time ago that being made of only the spiritual side of chakra, while weakening him, made him also more careful. The instinct gained from the physical side of chakra were absent, and this allowed him to become more intelligent.

No, he wasn't more intelligent, it was just that he could achieve a more rational and objective point of view, seeing as he wasn't influenced anymore by earthly needs. He had never been able to stop the bloodlust from overcoming his thoughts every time he thought about Madara, or Mito or Kushina or Hashirama, or those two brothers who ate him alive from the inside(seriously who does that?), or Shukaku, or-

Well, his bloodlust was very easily triggered it seems.

That may be one of the reasons he become the boogeyman of little (and not so little) shinobi. But he just couldn't contain his rage at the injustices that each time were dumped on his head.

Why, why must he be hated so?

Before Madara he was content with his life. He would sleep for a long time, and then, when he was almost forgotten by humans, he would wake up and go for his beautiful and satisfying run across the Elemental Nations, and if he had to go through the random village, or the random mountain, well, it wasn't anything his tails or his bijuudama couldn't take care of.

He was damn proud of being possibly the only being who could have said to have ran across the entire world more than once in a single run.

Man, those were the times.

Then that bastard just had to come, and not only did he woke him up from his nap, he also put him under his control. Him, the greatest of the tailed best!

It was unthinkable, but it happened.

And to add insult to injury, he didn't overpower him, he used one of those eye techniques that his father, the Sage of the Six Paths, gifted to his oldest child.

And it was a damn genjutsu! He thought he couldn't be effected by those!

But with his new calm, he could analyze the events more calmly. What happened in the past, remain in the past, he couldn't change anything about it, and acting like a mad beast whenever someone mentioned those whom he held anger towards, would not benefit him in the slightest.

The only true threat here is Madara. Or at least that masked man who pretended to be the the bastard. He didn't care if he was really dealing with Madara or not, the important thing was that that masked man could control his awesome self like _him, _so he deserved to be handled with the same care(and anger) that Kurama should use with the real one.

He wasn't truly scared -not one bit!-, he was the great Kurama after all, but maybe he could go a more, roundabout way of eliminating his enemy. Ultimately, he was stuck in this container, till death do us apart – he shuddered thinking of what could have happened if he was a female and what it could have meant- so he might as well take advantage of this situation. He was in a as unreachable place as he could be, and if his container could defeat his enemies for him, then all the better, especially considering that he couldn't get out of here, except if he actually was freed by his container, which couldn't be done unless he became the boy's friend...

Or he drove him mad.

But if he is mad he could be outsmarted by his enemy, a wise voice, that of his conscience, seemed to whisper in his mind.

_Wait, I don't have a conscien-_

Still, it _was _true. Madara was a bastard, yes, but he was a cunning bastard. All the power of the world wouldn't be enough if they weren't wielded with wisdom, and a berserker wouldn't be able to kill him even if he gifted his container with all his power.

And that was when his plan began to delineate itself in his mind:

a) Help him as much as possible ( he had to suppress a grimace a that)

b) Bring him in his mindscape as soon as possible

c) Explain with kind words point a

d) Become friend (cue shudder) of the lad

e) Guide him till he kill Madara

f) Use the power of friendship to make the lad remove the seal (_I'm so evil bwuhahhaha_)

g) Kill the fool for ever thinking that he was his friend

It was in a word, perfect.

He wouldn't dirty his paws, he would be cunning, manipulative and incredibly intelligent, he would be a fox. Finally he could become more affine to his chakra form.

He got the free spirited part down, but the astute one? Not really. Till now, that is.

He would be rubbing his paws with glee, if he didn't have incredibly sharp claws that would probably not like being rubbed together.

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Meanwhile, little Naruto passed his first month of life tormented with terrible headaches, so terrible in fact that he passed the better part of six month crying, something that was chalked up to a side effect of being a host to such power from the moment he was born.

It was reasonable to think that it was simply his body adjusting to the changes required of a jinchuuriki, or so the medics thought.

In reality it was just that in his head a fox was going crazy every odd day, regaining and losing sanity as fast as Tsunade of the Sannin lost money in a card game.

Interestingly enough, his chakra was almost even too much balanced between spiritual and physical, something that wasn't really normal for a Uzumaki. They do tend to have ridiculously high physical chakra, that granted them their enhanced lifespad and their incredible vitality.

And while in another world he would have had enough yang chakra to top four Uzumaki thanks to Yang Kyuubi, and pitifully low spiritual reserves, here instead his yin chakra was bolstered by his tenant, who pilfered through his rapidly developing chakra coils his yin chakra enough to match and even just surpass the natural physical chakra that every Uzumaki seem to have in spades.

We can clearly see here how the Fourth Hokage must have been struck, in _this _world, by a yellow flashing genius when he decided to seal the Yin Kyuubi in his son. At the very least he prevented a irreparable chakra control.

After the Kyuubi calmed down, our little hero finally could get some quiet, and, already sick of crying at the age of six month(almost seven), he become silent in his wants.

Instead of crying like every child his age are supposed to, he would just _glare _at you, and you would know that he wanted something because that was just how potent his glare was.

It was a really commanding glare.

Sometimes the medics who were looking after him in the hospital room dedicated to Naruto would inexplicably understand what he wanted if the glare was strong enough, and would rapidly bring him whatever, or wherever, he needed.

He had a really beautiful smile whenever he got what he wanted, and, like every child, with it he melted the hearts of the people around him.

Needless to say, the medics all loved him by the time they had to discharge him from the hospital, having run out of excuses to keep him in his room, that now was fully decorated to the liking of the boy, from the toys littering on the ground to the strangely orange blanket.

Secretly, the medics thought that the Hokage wanted him all for himself, seeing as till he was three he kept Naruto in his grand Hokage Mansion, much to the grumbles of all the previous caretaker of the boy. Still, they couldn't negate that it was good for him, and they had to agree that living in a hospital wasn't exactly a good thing for a young boy.

In another world, the Kyuubi would have tried to break free the moment it regained his sanity, thinking that if he tried hard enough he could somehow be able to escape from a seal crafted through the sacrifice of a soul and the Shingami itself.

Tch, so shounen.

His attempts to escape would have brought a fine red mist to sometimes escape the boy at random intervals, making the medic that love him in this world, be wary of Naruto in the other one.

He wasn't at fault really, it was just what any dumb beast who just lost the spiritual half of himself would have done.

Fortunately, here all the medic had to say about the boy was that he was the most adorable thing ever, and that he had such a cute glare that you couldn't help but do anything he wanted, just to see him smile.

Sure, there still were those few stupid/ignorant/crazy people who thought the beast incarnated could control you with his glare, but those of a more rational mind could clearly see that Naruto was just activating just about every motherly instinct there were in the mostly female staff of the hospital.

And passed three years, with the Konoha population still wary, but a little more open, and a little boy who went through everything he should, from potty training to walking, to running, to playing ninja.

Till, one morning, the Sandaime, with a heavy heart, had to finally do the thing he wanted to evade the most. Put Naruto in a orphanage.

He couldn't just show favoritism to Naruto, even if he was the jinchuuriki, there were still another hundred and more orphans who suffered the lost of their parents in the same way young Naruto had, and he couldn't very well adopt them all, and it wouldn't be neither fair nor right to simply ignore them while he let the son of the Fourth live with him like a priced trophy.

Not only was he lowering his political standing by simply housing a orphan, he was also insulting all those young shinobi and civilian who had seen their parents die in front of them by the Kyuubi's paws by taking in the boy who contained the demon that they wanted to have revenge on.

And, even if those orphans would like to simply put everything behind them, they couldn't just give up their anger at the loss of such important figures for them, and some of that anger irrationally translated to Naruto. He could see that they didn't want to, but still mutters of the "Kyuubi brat" being given a privileged standing while they were left to pick up the remains of their life were still unfortunately being shared in the background.

And as Hokage, as one who loved all children of Konoha equally, he couldn't just ignore them to focus on another.

Even if he wasn't just another, and he was one of the most prized, he cringed, weapon of the village, and the son of a friend and a man he held respect for, he couldn't just set aside his principles, the vows he had taken as Hokage, he had to harden his heart and put the little boy he had come to view as a grandson in a orphanage.

So he called him to his office.

The little boy came stumbling in, opening the door in unknown ways, seeing as he still couldn't reach the handle, being a _little _on the short side.

"Jiji!" The boy ran toward him with a huge smile on his face, breaking the atmosphere he wanted to create with a hug.

He was just making this more difficult.

"Naruto-kun, come with me. I want to go for a walk. Maybe we'll even visit that ramen stand you seem to like so much" The Hokage smiled warmly at this, knowing what Naruto's reaction would be.

"Yatta! Come on Jiji, let's go, let's go!" The boy didn't waste time in taking his hand and dragging him (Sarutobi liked to think he was a good actor) to the door and then outside the mansion, a wooden building on the outskirt of Konoha.

As they were walking, Hiruzen decided that he would approach the subject as fast as he could, he didn't want to make this hurt too much.

And maybe, ramen would make Naruto feels better about the bombshell he would be dropping on his head.

"Slow down, my boy, slow down" The Hokage chuckled as the jinchuuriki tried to do as he was told, but still he could be seen trying to hurry every few steps, his face set in a cute concentrated face.

"Now then" Sarutobi licked his suddenly dry lips, the weight of what he was doing heavy on his soul. "I want you to understand that it's not your fault, no, don't blame yourself, and, if you have to, blame me for this, I'd deserve it" _Great, _he thought_, now I seem like one of those teenagers that want to dump a girl and don't know how. _

Meanwhile Naruto looked at him in a confused manner, like he was thinking _Does he want to say something or what?_

"Anyway" He tried to get back on track "You know right that I'm Hokage, right?" A enthusiastic nod was his answer along with a "Yeah! Jiji is strong!"

_Please, Naruto-kun, don't make this any harder _thought Hiruzen.

"And sometimes, as Hokage, I have to make hard choices." The Hokage said with a grim face

"Like what?" The dreaded question come up, and Sarutobi decided to simply get out with it

"Naruto-kun, I've decided to put you in the orphanage" He closed his eyes, sadness overpowering him for but a moment.

"Okay!"

And the village was treated to the rare sight of the Hokage stumbling and nearly falling on his face.

With a surprised face he looked at Naruto and then, hopeful that he wasn't angry with him he said: "So you don't hat-"

"What's an orphanage?"

This time the Hokage face palmed. Of course he wouldn't know, he was just a three years old kid! What did he expect, that he would already know everything?

With a sigh, he began to explain:

"An orphanage is a place where kids who have, unfortunately, lost their parents, like you, have to go. There you'll socialize, you'll make fri-"

"So you're going to leave me?" Naruto's eyes were filled with tears.

"NO!" He almost shouted "no. I will always visit you anyway, and, and if you ever have any trouble, just tell me, I will help you. I'll always be with you. You'll just be a little bit more distant, but I'll always be beside you, right here." He pointed to his heart.

"Think of it as a" He stumbled for a word" vacation. Yes, an extended vacation where you'll start to be more responsible. Hey, you'll have the advantage with your classmates as soon as you start the academy. You'll already be able to be good enough on your own."

Naruto, who had been sniffling, tried to be brave, like all good ninja should, as he had been told by his jiji, but he was failing.

So the Hokage unleashed his secret weapon.

"Do you want to travel like a ninja? We'll get to Ichiraku in no time, and then you can eat as much ramen as you want".

There were so much awesome things in Sarutobi's speech that Naruto momentarily lost track of why he was sad.

Ah, the glory of a child attention span, thought the Third Hokage.

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And so he went to the orphanage, not without a last cry when he was left by his grandfather figure.

Still, he still had that voice inside his head that always helped him when he was sad, so he wasn't truly alone.

In fact it had helped him look at the positive aspect of Sarutobi's speech, namely the free ramen and the ninja travel, and when he was crying the voice consoled him and told him that it didn't matter, that they would see him soon anyway, and that it wasn't proper to cry for a boy. At least he thought that "my container" meant a boy, but he couldn't know, he was just a little kid.

A lot of time passed without anything happening, besides the fact that the older kids seemed to always be angry with him, and so even those of his age tended to shy away. He wanted to discover why, but the voice, who at this point he had come to realize was his greatest friend, told him that they were not worth it and that "they would ruin the plot because the author then would have to creat OC, and nobody like OC, no sir"

He didn't understand the first thing his friend had said, but he wanted to unde-

friend, told him that they were not worth it, and instead suggested him that he try to become more intelligent, by, and I kid you not, observing the world around him.

The fox clearly didn't know how to distract the kid, but he was trying his best. Naturally, while in another world the fox would have made his container a walking juggernaut, with his main ability being regeneration and insane power, here instead it approached the problem from another side. He was simply the spiritual chakra, so he couldn't affect his regeneration or his vitality, that was already as high as possible for a human, but it could affect his brain, or, to be more specific, his rate of learning. He simply made it so that his brain processed things at two times the speed of a normal adult human, that being as far as he could take his meddling till he had to grow to not be overwhelmed by this changes.

It had to be gradual, and in fact with his advice to observe the world around him the fox was effectively giving him practice with his new "brain power".

The only other ability he could give him was immunity to genjutsu. Actually this was something even his other self could have done, hell, every good jinchuuriki possessed this ability, it just took a surge of their bijuu chakra and voilà, the genjutsu came undone. It didn't really work for area-wide genjutsu, but for those that affected the mind, it was perfect.

And well, the observing training would translate in a better understanding of his surroundings, which is the key to the ability to dispel that kind of genjutsu.

Well, that and practically every doujutsu in existence, but they're all overpowered so they don't count.

Anyway, his vessel after paying maybe too much attention to his surrounfings, to Kurama's disgrace, randomly understood that having a voice inside his head wasn't normal. It was just one of those thing that you become aware of after standing in society.

Nobody seemed to have those strange moments where he responded to a voice inside his head, or smiled randomly at a joke that same voice did, and so, and here the brain processing speed was for once negative for his vessel, seeing as he understood too much too soon, for a brief period of time Naruto didn't answer the voice of his friend, and began to once more try to be friendly with the other kids, who already saw him as something of a problem kid, who always seemed to be trying to figure something out.

As he started to make bridges toward the other orphans though, Kurama decided that it was time to reveal himself, before something unexpected happen.

And so, while Naruto was asleep, the great fox, who had been preparing for this moment for a lot of time, finally brought the boy inside his mindscape.

In another world, Naruto mindscape would have been a dirty sewer, but in _this _world, his mindscape was a _clean _sewer, with sapphire tubes representing his chakra running along the perfectly polished stone walls, with the odd ruby here and there, the water as clean as that of a tropical island, clearly the result of a organized mind (and of a still too pompous fox).

Little Naruto could see that he was in a strange place (who had sapphire tubes anyway?), but it was new, and interesting.

So he began to wander, simply walking without a goal, a look of childish curiosity on his face, contrasted by the sharply focused blue eyes taking in everything surrounding him, just like the voice said to do a little over a year ago.

Oh right, the boy had now almost five years, and to the joy of culture everywhere, he had already learned to read and write. Surely stumbling a little on the difficult alphabet and with a somewhat unsteady hand that led to a not so perfect reading and to a childishly illegible writing, but still, he was a little prodigy.

Especially since nobody taught him anything. The little bugger just by observing the older orphans practice with their books opened had learned everything he could, going as far as to "borrow" one of those books from his friend, not knowing that that book was one of the few present in the little library the orphanage had, along with another few books that really were only there for show. Not many people liked to read books which title insulted him, so after learning to read on "Reading for Dummies" and especially after reading the title of the book they were using to learn to such a vital skill, they simply give up reading all those other "Maths for Dummies", "History for Dummies" and so on and simply went to school and did their homework. Few were those disciplined enough to read a book on a school subject.

Strangely, school books had a bag stigma that caused them to be inexplicably disliked by every student.

Returning to our little wandering five years old bugger, he finally come to a stop in a large chamber, on which every wall was covered in ruby pipes (Seriously, what's up with that?), that abruptly became those previously described just a little outside the great chamber.

The water, that wasn't really that deep before, now become a thin layer of crystalline liquid, so much so that even the short Naruto wasn't affected by it in the slightest, being able to walk without problems.

Now, while in another world there would have been a cage with prison's bars and a angry beast on the other side, in _this _world the cage wasn't there at all.

Instead the metaphysical image of the Kyuubi's cage was a large, see through, bluish _hand. _The circular cavern in which the beast resided was covered by this _hand_, which fingers curved slightly on the top leaving some space for the ruby tubes to leave the cave and ramificated in the way previously described.

In awe at this incredible sight, Naruto run like a child on sugar before the strange, big _hand_, and when he was near enough to touch it, a voice so very familiar spoke from the depths of the chamber.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" THE voice said with a chuckle.

"Is this a dream? Are you real?" Naruto was as happy as he was in disbelief. He had heard that voices inside his head weren't real, so this came as a surprise.

"I'm very much real, I assure you, little Naruto" Finally the great beast exposed himself in all of his blackened glory.

"Hey! You're big!" Well that was the first thing that came to his mind. Still, this strange fox was familiar, like he had already seen that form somewhere.

"AH!" He exclaimed in realization "You're just like that giant fox thing that Yondaime-sama defeated in this book, and there was this image with a giant frog and it was in a fight with it maybe?" Naruto rapidly muttered almost to himself, his mutterings becoming always more childish and mature at the same time, strange conjectures being formed in his mind and discarded just as fast, resulting in him not understanding what he was saying.

"Calm down, calm down" The fox said with a deep voice, the sound pleasant to the ears. It had taken years before he could contain his booming voice enough to communicate in a normal manner with his container, but it was worth it. _Now I have a deep suave voice, with which I can convince people more easily_, thought Kurama giddily.

After Naruto refocused his young eyes on the former being of destruction, the Kyuubi restarted talking.

"Ah, yes, I'm exactly that fox that was defeated by your Fourth Hokage, no need to worry" Here he tried to smile, but, seeing as his fangs do come off as worrying, he saw Naruto taking a step back, so he immediately discarded his new facial expression, thinking about how stupid it was for a Bijuu to try to smile to a human because he wanted to put him "at ease".

"Anyway" He hurriedly tried to change subject " Your beloved Hokage decided to seal my awesome self in you while you were a toddler, probably because he knew of the power I could grant any of my host, but unfortunately died in the process."He had to work to keep himself sadly frowning, but it was essential. First impression were everything."Yet, he still managed to do what he wanted, and sealed me in you. Since you've been but a little human baby, I helped you" He stressed the world helped, after all, it was part b) of the plan "in any way I could, I comforted you, I helped your growth and essentially I did everything to the best of my power to help you, to protect you. Now that you've become a big boy " He didn't expect the small smile he received for what he said, but he welcomed it nonetheless."I've brought you here, so that we could speak face to face, to finally met with the boy I've come to think of as my friend."

His obviously prepared speech seemed to get to little Naruto, who unaware of the consequence such an action could bring, ran toward Kurama.

"No, wait!" The fox warning came too late, as Naruto smacked in the great _hand_ holding the Kyuubi prisoner, and was electrocuted.

After about two minutes of spasms and random twitches, he finally woke up, with a tired "Ugh, what happened".

"You happened" The Kyuubi perfectly mixed false concern and a little of teasing in his voice, just like he had sometimes heard other kids in the orphanage do with their friend.

"You just had to smack against the _hand, _didn't you" Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with a muttered "Sorry".

"Well, anyway, I guess we have finally met, uh?" The fox was now in uncharted territory. He had never tried to speak with another so intimately, and when one doesn't have a prepared speech, and was a giant fox of unmatched power trying to speak to a 5 years old boy, well he didn't know what to do.

"Yup" Was Naruto's simple answer.

And then silence.

Some more awkard silence.

"Don't you have some questions? Anything to ask me?" The fox lost his patience and did something so much resembling begging that he felt bile rising in his throat, even if he didn't have bile inside his body.

"Well...I've got some questions...But I don't know if it's okay to ask..."

"Speak"

"The first is...Are you female? Because I heard that female kitsune went in heat and there are stories tha-"

"I'M A MALE!" The fox took a deep breath and then in his most calm voice said "Don't worry, I'm a male" Somehow it didn't seem to be so convincing, but it was enough for Naruto, who grinned brightly.

"Okay, second question: you said you were awesome and powerful, but if so why did you want to be sealed? And I heard rumors about a "Kyuubi attack" and that the Yondaime killed that day, but it destroyed a lot of Konoha, and there are still men at work to rebuild the village so..." His confused voice brought Kurama to a halt.

Shit.

He could bullshit his way through this, but it wouldn't hold for long, and then he would have broken the trust he needed to arrive a part f) of the plan, so it was out of the question. He couldn't put himself against anything the Hokage might possibly say in the future, he needed his vessel to stay in Konoha and grow strong, so that left only option b: the truth.

It left a bad taste in his mouth to have to say how he was controlled by someone proclaiming to be Madara Uchiha, but he had to do it.

With barely contained rage he said: "I was...controlled by a despicable man, truly one of the worst man I'd ever had the displeasure of meeting, a certain, Uchiha Madara." His name still left a bad taste in his mouth. "He made me do horrible things against your village, but your Hokage managed to free me from his control, and then, after bringing me to a safe place, he sealed me in you. I was still angry, you see, but after what happened, I sort of accepted what I become, a prisoner, and decided to simply help you in your life. It was an interesting change, but my hate for Madara still burns as bright as the sun, and the fact that I can't get my revenge sometimes makes me angry...But I know that this is how I have to repent for endangering so many of the humans that reside in this pi-ceaful"Damn he nearly said pitiful instead of peaceful." Village."

Naruto was understandably awed.

"Wow, you're so great! You have to tell me stories of your battle sometimes, I bet they will be EPIC!" He finished with a grandiose motion of his hands.

"Yes, sure" The Bijuu masked the fact that he was nervous with indifference.

"Well then... Last question" He smiled brightly, as if this was the question most important to him "What's your name? I can't go around calling you ninetails, now could I?" No you can't. Lawyers would come and rob you of every penny you have for copyright infrangement.

"I..." Kyuubi was strangely moved by the brat request. And confused. He didn't know if he wanted to reveal his name to this ningen. But...point f), he remembered.

"My name is Kurama, gaki".

And so a beautiful and twisted tale of friendship began, in the most unlikely of places, between the most unlikely of beings.

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The next years passed in a blur, our blond hero having found a friend and having long relaxing chat with him.

To his dismay, Kurama was starting to like the peace he was provided with in the seal, having someone to talk to, beautiful pipes to look at, and the life of his container to influence with his words.

It was probably the calmest moment of his life. And his spiritual side approved.

The most important change for Naruto was that, after grinding through the useful and slightly offending books of the limited library he was provided with, he finally began to go to the famous Ninja Academy of Konoha at the age of six. Unfortunately, there were no discoveries of chakra to be made, only boring lectures on facts that thank to his avid learning of discarded books he already knew, hell, they were still trying to write and read! It was maddening to keep himself from simply shouting that he already knew this things, but the fox inside his head was adamant that he showed himself to be only a average hard worker. He said that if he were to be too good, there would be questions, and saying that the voice inside my head is helping me study wasn't a valid excuse.

Reluctantly agreeing to the fox thinking, he then asked what he should do in class. And the fox, in the sage like voice he tended to acquire whenever he was saying something equally wise and teasing, simply told him that he should pay attention to the boring lectures, just to see if he missed anything.

He never did, but it still let the concepts be more easily remembered.

Now that OC weren't a problem anymore, he could finally find some friends. To the joys of his grandfather, he made fast friends with the clan heirs of the most prominent clans of the village, and slowly, the dream of being Hokage began to form in his mind. It was a distinct possibility too. If the new clan council was to be composed of his friend, it wasn't difficult that he would be chosen as Hokage, as Kurama reminded him.

That's not to say he was using his friends. It was just that the fox liked to make him approach everything from every angle possible, and being friends with the clan heirs only had benefits.

And they were fun to be around with their antics.

Shikamaru the lazy genius, Chouji the not-fat kind guy, Kiba the ferocious mutt, Hinata the shy gentle soul, Ino the loudmouth, Shino the bug-lover and even little Sasuke mama-boy.

He was the intelligent simple guy who keep them together, engaging conversation even with Shino and Hinata, the most quiet of the class.

But even with his newly found fun side, he didn't forget his training. In fact, he had made a promise to himself to beat up this Madara guy who dared to control his furry friend, it was just unfair what happened to Kurama.

Still, the fact that genjutsu could be used to control even being of immense power like his friend was not lost on him, and despite Kurama's attempts to make him stop his path in the illusionary arts, he didn't. It was probably the only subject that he had argued with Kurama. Even now the fox didn't approve, thinking in fear that someday he would be able to control him like that blasted Madara.

But he couldn't stop. It was a strange drive that he had that couldn't be explained, if not by the fact that having such a monstrous amount of Yin chakra led to a natural disposition, and his natural disposition wouldn't let him just put it away.

No he wanted to discover everything there was to know about every arts, and that included genjutsu.

With Kurama's help he was sure he could do it.

After returning from school, he would study everything he could get his hands on about area-wide genjutsu, not only because of a personal like, but also because he needed privacy if he wanted that his attempts to be average didn't conflict with how powerful he wanted to become.

And so, the very first year was spent looking at obscure theories and even more difficult jutsu. And he understood one thing after a year spent on old tomes regarding the illusionary arts.

Nobody knew anything about genjutsu.

They just made up some hand-seal sequence that seemed to work for what they wanted their illusion to do and that's it.

By a process of trials and error after who know how long they were able to create a jutsu. Well, that was if they didn't have a doujutsu, that somehow helped them cast whatever they wanted.

There was no science behind it.

It was a shocking revelation, but then he read something that changed his perception of genjutsu in a old book, titled "Myths and legend of the Shinobi world".

On one of the myth was described a old ninja who was said to have mastered chakra itself, and with it he could make ninjutsu on the spot, apply illusion however he wanted, and simply being so overpowered it wasn't even funny.

While it was probably an exaggeration, it did lend the idea that chakra wasn't something that you could restrict to handseals sequences and a shouted incantation, it did help for sure, but it wasn't everything.

And so, that was what he studied at the academy. Chakra theory so advanced it would make the head of anyone spin. But there was a side effect to this. He began to lag behind in his normal classes. He always promised to himself that he would pick up the material of the classes later, but he just didn't have time, between his new physical regime(which he was practicing in a small field near the orphanage put under one of the few genjutsu he learned in the last year) and his studies, there was no place for history, maths and science. He made sure pay attention in class, but it wasn't often that what the sensei talked about was understood, what with other things to think about, friends who wanted to talk every other minute, it was understandable that he would lag behind.

The Kyuubi berated him for letting his friends get in the way of his education, but he couldn't force himself to ignore them.

They were, friends.

Then, the Uchiha massacre happened, and Sasuke become a brooding mess. What happened to him isn't something he would wish upon his worst enemies, but when the Uchiha rebutted every efforts by his friends to help him, they began to drift away, and Naruto was too preoccupied with his studies to actively go searching for his friend beneath that cold mask he had put on himself.

It was cold of him to do so, but he wouldn't let anything get in the way of knowledge.

As everyone, he fell in a routine. He would woke up, began reading on chakra theory, go to the Academy, have lunch with a book in his hand, study till three o'clock, go to his field(which was protected by one of the few genjutsu he had learned in his first year of the academy), train his body till around six o'clock, and then he practiced with the chakra flow in his body, trying to understand it better.

After that, he just proceeded to have dinner and go to bed, exhausted mentally and sometimes physically.

He discovered that outside of just reading some books, if he wanted to learn how to use his chakra like that shinobi from the myth, he had to feel the energy flowing outside and inside him.

And that's how he began his way on the path of the sensor ninja, and he was talented, very much so.

After discovering his chakra and being able to feel it flow in his chakra coils, he could have stopped his sensor training, but being able to sense everything around you was a skill that his tenant told him would come in handy sooner or later.

That was how he passed five years of academy.

But it had a side-effect. He didn't want to, but his studies didn't let him socialize that much anymore, and outside of taking lunch with his friends sometimes, the clan heirs began slowly began drifting apart from him, not voluntarily but just because of a lack of meetings.

While they were always together, Naruto had to find excuses to do his private training, training which Kurama forbid him from informing anyone he was doing, because, he said:"Being underestimated is always better than being overestimated, brat".

By the time the graduation day came, he could proudly say that he had mastered the flow of chakra inside his coils, which was further proved by how he could effortlessy do some of the chakra control exercises that were said to be difficult even for chuunin.

His sensory training led to him being able to feel everything around him in a fifteen meter range if he didn't focus on it, and almost one hundred if he did.

So, after almost botching the written part of the exam, and doing rather well on the physical part, when they came to the Ninjutsu test, he was exited. Even if he hadn't ever really practiced this jutsu, he was still sure he could do it. He knew the handsigns.

That's not to say that he wanted to leave the Academy Ninjutsus out of his training regime. It's just that he was too preoccupied with everything else.

The henge was really easy, all you had to do was essentially paint an illusion on a thin layer of chakra surrounding your body, and with the low chakra cost and the potentially infinite ways in which you could use it, it wasn't a surprise it was so used by shinobi worldwide.

He made a show of making the required hand sign, because they really helped as a way to somehow induce himself to make the correct chakra flow, and poof, in his place stood a picture perfect Sandaime Hokage, smoking tobacco from his pipe.

Iruka and Mizuki were surprised, they expected Naruto to do just as he had all year long, and fail, but it wasn't so. In fact, it was probably the best henge of the Hokage they had seen until now.

Then it was the Kawarimi. This one was trickier, you needed to let your chakra make contact with an object and then you had to somehow switch yourself with it using a complicated piece of ninjutsu. It was simple with handsigns, but without them it required a knowledge of ninjutsu out of Naruto's range. So he did the handsigns and succesfully switched himself with the required chair, stumbling a bit as he did. That needed practice.

He saw a frown appear for a moment on Iruka's face, while Mizuki was simply watching the proceedings with curious eyes.

So it was time for the Bunshin. This jutsu required a bit of the other two. It was simpler than the kawarimi, but more difficult than the henge. To show off a little and recuperate some of the points he had lost with the imperfect kawarimi, he tried doing it without handsigns.

Will a roughly human shaped chakra to life to your left and right, plant a illusion over it and it's done!

Or it should be anyway.

He couldn't concentrate. He didn't know why but in this important moment he couldn't concentrate.

Just as thought of failure and of the premature death of his carrier were brought to his mind, he felt as the chakra to his right and left finally took shape.

But the shape was all wrong, it was dead on his feet and pale in a unnatural way, and after a instant of wobbling on his feet, it crashed with a thump on the cold pavement, bringing with it his chance to become a shinobi.

He raised desperate eyes to Iruka, whose frowning face was soon screaming

"You FAIL"

And so Naruto ran outside without a headband, a pensive fox resting in his head.

He rested for a while on the swings of the academy, thinking about how it shouldn't have gone like it had, and that it wasn't his fault that he had more important things to think about during the academy's years.

He looked at the happy families embracing and praising their children, and he felt a sting of envy.

His friends looked at him as their families congratulated and hugged them, Shikamaru's mother so happy you could see her round circles around her son screaming about how she didn't expect this, and Shika was wearing an annoyed face, mutterings his catch phrase "Troublesome" repeatedly, but Naruto could see the small smile on his face and he just couldn't bear it anymore, so he ran to his sanctuary.

The head of stone of the Fourth Hokage on the great Hokage's Monument.

Here between the spiky locks of his hero Naruto couldn't be seen, and the view from this high point was spectacular. He could see all of Konoha from here, from the busy civilian running from this shop to that, to the shinobi stealthly jumping from rooftop to rooftop, to the various great buildings of the Leaf Village.

Even if he was angry with the world now, now that he could see his village, he just couldn't stay mad anymore.

He remembered when, only six years old, the Third Hokage come to bring him to his new apartment.

-Flashback-

_"So Naruto, you do want to leave the orphanage, right?" The Hokage asked with a warm voice_

_"Yes, thanks jiji, now I'll have more time to become a better ninja!" Seeing as the Third wanted to interrupt him he suddenly said "And I can take care of myself, believe it!" And a demon cringed in his head, and told him that he will make him drop that word, whatever the cost._

_Naruto just grinned._

_"I know, I know, you're all grown up now, so we all know that you can take care of yourself" Naruto grin impossibly grew even more"But, Naruto-kun, why do you want to become a "better ninja" so badly?" He was concerned, he didn't want him to search power for the wrong reasons._

_"Because ninja are awesome! They're like, so strong and cool, and I want to be the strongest and coolest of them all!"_

_"So you want to be Hokage?" Sarutobi asked amused._

_"Huh?"_

_"Well, the Hokage is the strongest ninja of the village, so..." _

_"NO WAY! You're that strong jiji? But, but you're old!"_

_"Well, I can assure you that I'm stronger than I look" The Hokage chuckled in good spirit. "But, if you want to be Hokage, you have to do it for the right reasons"_

_"I just want to be strong!" The boy exclaimed as if that was his solution to everything._

_"Strong for who? Wait, don't answer that, come with me" With a shunshin they travelled to the head of the Fourth Hokage, and the wizened Sarutobi sat Naruto on his right leg, his left hand pointing down._

_"Look" He said, and Naruto did. It was a breathtaking view, the beautiful village bustling with life "Tell me, what do you see?"_

_"Konoha naturally" He started petulantly "But, it's so beautiful..." He ended in a near whisper._

_"Yes, yes it is" Chuckled the Hokage. " But you want to know what I see right now?" A still awed Naruto nodded hesitantly "I see people. Children of Konoha that I have to protect. Shinobi that under my command perform the greatest of feat to help my village grow."_

_Naruto was taken by the calm and authority of his grandfather figure, maybe he was even more awed by the steely will and power of this old man than he was previously when he saw, really saw his village for the first time._

_"And that's how the Hokage, the strongest have to see his village. The will of fire, the will to protect those precious to us with the strength of a thousand sun, must burn the brightest inside the Hokage. " The steely calm in his voice was awe-inspiring_

_"So, you still want to become Hokage?" The old man chuckled a bit, when the little boy shouted at the top his lung his answer. Naturally he said yes._

_"Tch, the old bastard is manipulating you and you can't even tell" Kurama interceded with his voice angry._

_He didn't answer to his friend, but when he was finally settled in his new apartment, he lied with his hands behind his head on his new bed and asked him what he mean by that._

_"Did you forget that you didn't ever say that you wanted to be Hokage?" Kurama was fast to make his point_

_"I wanted to be the strongest, and the Hokage is the strongest, so..."_

_"But it's not true!" Kurama was almost shouting now "There are ninja out there that I'm sure are stronger than your old man, it's not like Konoha is the only place where there are shinobi you know? And I'm sure that strong shinobi exist everywhere."_

_"I understand that". Naruto said in a calm voice that unsettled the fox " But Hokage is still the strongest ever! You know about the first Hokage? They say he was able to subdue a certain fox..." His voice became teasing._

_Kurama wanted to snarl against the bars of his prison, but seeing as there weren't bars and that he took pride in being a civilized and collected being, he didn't._

_And if he did he would have been electrocuted by that...hand._

_"Oh, fuck it, I don't want to have another discussion with you like the one on genjutsu. Do whatever you want, it's not like I care" Kurama childishly looked away from Naruto, which prompted the giggles of his container. He still was only six years old._

_"Don't worry, you big fox. I will become powerful enough to beat that Madara you seem to hate, and that's a promise of a lifetime. And if I become Hokage in the process...Well, I won't complain" Naruto laughed, childish glee on his face._

_"Tch"_

_The fox was strangely moved, he didn't even start the plan in which he pitted Naruto against Madara and he already was promising to do what he wanted._

_He should have been evilly gleeful, and he was, but there was something that he couldn't describe just outside of his evilness, something that he never felt before._

_Bah, who cares anyway._

_-Flashback-End-_

"Here you are Naruto-kun" A slightly panting Mizuki finally found just the kid he needed.

"I know that Iruka sometimes can seem cruel, but he's not, believe me. He just want the best for you" Mizuki saw that Naruto was narrowing his eyes at him, so he hurried to say what he had come to find him for.

"But, I know that you really want to be a Shinobi, and for people like you Konoha created a special test, you just have to steal the Forbidden Scroll from the Hokage's office and a learn a jutsu from it, then I'll promote you" He finished with what he thought was a reassuring grin. It wasn't, but he didn't need to know that.

"IT'S A TRAP!" Kurama shouted, making him wince. "Sheesh, I know. But if there is even one chance to pass, I'll have to take it"

"Ah, this headache..." Naruto tried to make up an excuse for his wince somewhat lamely."Anyway, I can do that, Sensei, don't worry" He flashed a bright grin at Mizuki.

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After getting everything he needed for his mission from Mizuki, he prepared himself in his apartment and headed toward his mission, exchanging his simple outfit, which consisted of baggy blue trousers and the white shirt with the orange spiral on front his jiji gifted him, with a ridiculous black tight ninja leotard.

"This is the stupidest idea ever." Kurama had been grumbling for a while now.

"Oh, shut up, you big fox, it will be fun" Naruto thought back to his tenant.

"Fun he says, not only we're going to do an impossible mission, but we're doing it in that sorry excuse for a halloween costume." The incredulity Kurama was feeling at the situation was palpable.

"Eh, at least I found a use for it" Naruto shrugged.

Kurama could only shake his head in disbelief. "You're crazy, crazy I tell you"

Naruto just laughed mentally(Don't ask him how it's possible, it just _is_).

Sneaking past the Anbu was laughably easy, because thanks to Mizuki he knew when the change of shifts would happen, and he would be in and out before the next batch of super fast elitè ninja began their work.

Well, maybe. He was starting to have some doubts, but he ruthlessly suppressed like he suppressed his chakra, dropping off the map of every sensor in the world.

It might be a little excessive, but that's how good at controlling chakra he was, so it was also true.

He scanned the place, and he could see that nobody was inside. He rapidly approached a window and tried to open it without any noise.

He slipped a chakra string underneath it and then opened it from the inside. Simple.

He entered with the whisper of the wind, closing the window behind him. He was in.

But there were some problems. Sensing around for chakra, he realized that there were a strange set of invisible strings, that seemed to trigger a strange security system, it's anchor obviously the visible seal near the stairs that led to the Hokage's office.

It wasn't really difficult for a ninja to simply jump around, but if he wasn't a sensor and could almost clearly see where the chakra string were, it would have been impossible. Only insane amount of luck would have been able to get you through this minefield of a security system.

Still, it was easily surpassed.

The stairs were strangely unguarded, till he reached the familiar hallway in which was located the office of the Hokage. The same sicurity system guarded the hallway, but when he was in front of the door, he could clearly see that there was something else guarding this.

And then he saw that he couldn't touch the door. A identifying seal was stuck on the other side of the door, which would analyze the chakra of the person touching the door, and it could have any number of effect on the victim. The only way he knew that it was an identifying seal was that there was some of the Hokage's chakra in it, and he was familiar with the Sandaime's energy.

He was stuck.

Opening the door could have any number of effect, but...

There!

It was practically invisible, but a miniscule hole in the seal at the bottom of the door could possibly let a thin chakra string inside, and the handle wasn't guarded by it, so he could open this the same way he opened the window! But he would have to make a chakra string so thin that it passed through the little hole in the seal.

He never had to make it so thin.

It was a difficult task, but he felt it was safe when his chakra reached the width of less than half the diameter of the hole in the seal at the bottom of the door.

He slipped it through, made it arch back toward the handle and -click- the door opened!

He entered with a sense of accomplishment, finally inside the office he needed to be in.

He reached where he knew the scroll would be, after carefully checking if there were any other trap he forced open the safe and there it was.

He put the big scroll on his back, opened the window of the office and just as he was preparing to jump down, a voice stopped him.

"Naruto-kun? What are you-"

"Shit! **Orioke Bunshin no Jutsu!**" The feared technique surrounded the Hokage with smoke, then multiple copies of buxom young womans did their job at distracting the Hokage.

By the time Sarutobi regained his bearing, Naruto already succefully escaped.

He shouldn't have fainted, but it was just too much for his old bones, and he did feel a genjutsu briefly taking old of his senses, just after the beautiful boo- ehm, women, surrounded him.

Well, he didn't know what his grandson was up to this time, but that on his back was the scroll of seals.

It seems like he would have to alert his shinobi, but first he will notify Naruto's sensei. It seems like they would probably be more open to the idea that his grandson wasn't guilty, and he wanted him captured, not killed.

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It had already been an hour since Naruto arrived in the place Mizuki told him to be, and in that time he was capable of learning a jutsu he was most happy to have in his arsenal.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

The possibilities were endless! He could train everything at the same time, without having to lose time! And his new clones could also try what is too dangerous for him to try!

It was probably his favorite jutsu right now, and Kurama was silent.

In the meanwhile, he looked at another jutsu, Bunshin Daibakuha, and he started to drool.

He could make his clones explode? That was epic!

He was just about to try his hand at this new jutsu, when he was interrupted by a booming voice.

"NARUTO! What do you think you are doing!"

"Hey, Iruka-sensei! I did it!" He cheered loudly, while Kurama just grunted and said in a smug tone "I told you so". " I learned a jutsu, look, this one!" He indicated the written entry of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. " And I was just trying to learn this other one! You want to watch?"

Iruka analyzed his young student for any lies he might be saying, but he couldn't find any trace of it. Just as he was about to tell him to stop lying, he heard the telltale sound of metal slicing through the air.

"DODGE!"

He jumped in front of him, the shuriken that he couldn't defect with his kunai slicing through his flesh, but he managed to protect his charge.

"Ah, Iruka, I didn't expect you to be here" Mizuki said, crouched on a tree branch not too far from the clearing Naruta was in.

"Well, it doesn't matter, Naruto, you pass!" He said with a nice smile on his face "Now give me the scroll, I will return it to the Hokage"

Iruka was conflicted. He didn't know what to say, on one hand, bringing the scroll to the Hokage was what they were ordered to do, on the other he was beginning to suspect that his coworker wasn't just using lies to make his work easier, but that Mizuki was the criminal that wanted the scroll in the first place.

Still, he was his friend, so he was hesitant to accuse him.

"Beat him up" Kurama was not.

"You better Believe it" Kurama cringed at the bad habit he couldn't rid his container of.

Naruto tried and failed to make his face confused, and then simply throw the scroll toward Mizuki.

In his glee, the traitor caught it in his hands, then promptly turned and ran, without sparing a second glance at his former friend and student.

He looked down gleefully to see the smiling face of his scroll- wait what?

And then he was decked in the face. Hard. The momentum of his run stopped by the punch, he fell down from the branch he was on, going through at least another three branch, till he was stopped by the unforgiving earth.

With a thump, his body slammed against hard ground, and Mizuki lost consciousness for a moment, then, overcome by anger, he got up, starting a sprint in the direction of the one who dared trick him.

"KYUUBI BRAT!" His shout was probably heard all the way to Suna, but he didn't care. Nobody humiliate him like that.

He didn't care that he broke the law, he just wanted to kill that little bastard.

Iruka, that had tried to go after his traitorous friend, was surprised to see him return to the clearing, and was even more surprised that he just passed by his side, without even giving him a second glance.

Mizuki was a chuunin, not the best, but still a good ninja, if for only the most blunt aspect of this work. He was the powerhouse on his genin team, the one who was capable of doing the most damage.

In his current berserker state, he was dangerous power-wise, but Naruto only had to make a single handseal to ensnare him in a illusion.

Mizuki suddenly stopped, his face angry, running in his mind after his foe, who, while scared, always could stay just ahead of him.

Naruto was understandably smug. His illusions were top notch. This particular one worked on Mizuki's own understanding of the terrain around him, making him run after an illusionary foe, tiring mentally, till he was unconscious from strain.

Not many would not understand that they were in an illusion, but in his berserker state, Mizuki was little more than a savage beast, so Naruto decided to simply let him tire himself.

"Did you see, Iruka-sensei!? I beat a chuunin!" He laughed.

"**KATON: GOKYAKU NO JUTSU" **The angry visage of Mizuki shouted at the top of his lungs, blowing a fireball of immense proportions at nobody that started the mother of all forest fire.

While the environment become a sauna, Mizuki finally freed himself from his illusion, after seeing that even after being scorched, his foe was still intact and living, with the same scared face as before and the same ridiculous black leotard.

"So you think you had me beaten eh? You're becoming arrogant, Kyuubi" Mizuki's eyes glinted with madness "And now, you'll pay for it!"

He launched himself at his foe, his speed making it difficult for Naruto to react, and if he wasn't a Jinchuuriki, he probably would have been skewered by the glinting kunai in Mizuki's hands.

Instead he succesfully used the Replacement Technique, switching himself with one of the numerous burning log lying around.

His kunai becoming superheated, Mizuki let it fall from his hand with a yelp, then turned to look at his little foe.

Iruka finally decided to join the fight, but before he could, Naruto successfully stuck Mizuki in a genjutsu loop. Practically he just repeated the same genjutsu again and again, the only way to get out of this is pain or constantly running chakra through the coils, with the side effect of burning a lot of it.

Fortunately Mizuki didn't know about this, so he was stuck.

"Iruka-sensei, I'll hold him. But you have to knock him out" Naruto said, the strain of focusing on talking and his genjutsu loop almost too much for him. Kurama was to thank for this, usually you would have to drop your awareness to concentrate on the genjutsu, trusting your partner to dirty his hands for you. The changes he had made to the processing speed of his brain were really a blessing.

Iruka, almost disbelievingly, chopped Mizuki on his neck, making him unconscious.

"That was..."

"Awesome?, cool?, great?, grand-"

"Surprising." Iruka said with a smile.

"That works too" Naruto smiled.

"Close your eyes Naruto" Iruka cleared his throat, his eyes holding pride for his pupil.

"Why?" And Naruto ruined the atmosphere.

"JUST DO IT!" Iruka managed to make Naruto do as he wanted. " And no spying between your eyelids. I'm a ninja, I know if you're doing it".

With a pout, Naruto complied, also because his sensing at this distance was almost like a third eye, so he could see as Iruka undid the knot on his headband, and then placed it on his forehead.

"Open your eyes, Naruto Uzumaki, genin of Konoha" And Iruka was tackled by a hug.

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After a quick stop home to change himself, Naruto and Iruka went to the Hokage's office.

As they reported what happened to the Hokage, with Naruto having to apologize profusely for the stunt he had pulled, the young jinchuuriki finally could ask the question that Kurama was urging him to say.

"Jiji, why did Mizuki call me a Kyuubi brat?" The question was asked in a curios way, as if he really didn't know what he was.

And so, the Hokage told him.

He told him of the great Bijuu that couldn't be stopped by human means, such was his strength. Of the wise Fourth Hokage that decided to seal it in a child, because only in that way could the power of the fox not kill his host. And finally, when he get to the part that the Hokage wanted him to be seen as a hero of the village, finally Naruto could ask the question that he really wanted to know.

He had already asked his tenant, and he had said that he would know soon, but not by him. He didn't remember their names nor their face, humans were simply too small to be remembered at years of distance, and he didn't want to tell him lies.

So he had decided to ask the Hokage, and he would ask him now.

"Why me? Were my parents friends of the Yondaime? Why did he have to chose him?"

"Because, ah." Sarutobi didn't know what to say anymore. He sighed "Come with me".

He walked the short distance toward the only window in his office, overlooking the village.

" Look to the utmost right, yes, that giant stone of a face is your father, Namikaze Minato" He never was good in sentimental moments, and this time wasn't an exception for the great Hokage.

"The Yondaime was my father?" Naruto's eyes screamed happiness at knowing that such a great hero was his father " That's so great! I'm the son of my hero!" And just as he was starting to get into a weird victory dance, Sarutobi told him to hold his horses.

"You can't say that to anyone. Your father had enemies, and you would be put in danger" Not really anymore, relationship between the Leaf and the Stone were becoming better, but it could politically endanger that same relationship.

Even that old Oonoki had to listen to the rambles of his council.

"I promise I won't say it to anyone until I'm stronger than you, old man" Naruto teased.

"What am I supposed to with you, Naruto" The Hokage shook his head in mock exasperation.

"And my mom?" It was natural that Naruto wanted to know the other part of his lineage.

"Kushina Uzumaki, she was a really strong red-haired kunoichi with a fiery personality, just like yours, she really loved you, since before you were born.

Wait a moment, I'll get something for you." He rummaged through the drawers of his desk, till he finally found what he was searching for. It was a photo with Naruto's parents, Kushina's obviously pregnant looking adoringly at her expanded belly.

It moved Naruto that the old Hokage finally told him something that he had always wanted to know, and his parents were also an important secret of the village, so the fact that he confided in his ability to maintain the secret made him happy.

"Thanks" It was all Naruto could say between the unshed tears that he stubbornly refused to let fall.

He grabbed the photo, hugged his old grandfather, and then ran toward his apartment, where he would sleep contently,

* * *

**AN: So here I am.**

**Recently I've read Naruto:Ouroborus(if it was called that), awesome story by the way, and stumbling on the author page, I read that OC shouldn't be used because it eliminate some of the quality of what make a fanfic itself, and I had to agree.**

**Probably nobody had read my first story, for which only the prologue was present, but it was practically full of OC, for which I had a delineated plot and their personality, I had it all roughly thought out from start to finish, but it was, difficult to write.**

**When instead I started this story, I was surprised by the simplicity with which the words came floating out of my mind, and this same simplicity is what led me to cancel the other story. I still have the prologue by the way, and a little of the second chapter (really little).**

**So I guess I'm taken more by this story, for which I still don't know what the hell I'm doing, than the other, which was already precisely delineated.  
**

**This is a lot more fun. And I hope that the few of you who will read will have fun, and that it wasn't too much of a mess. :P**

**PS: A beta reader would be a blessing, but I can continue to wing it I guess.**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or anything publicly recognizable.**

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Kurama was happy.

The great beast could clearly see how every plan he had concocted that already distant day were slowly coming to life, and it was glorious.

Sometimes he had to stop himself from doing weird victory dances, because they could alert his host that he was up to something strange, and he didn't want that, not at all. Well, that and the fact that he was confused by why he actually wanted to do a victory dance. He hadn't ever had the need to do something so outlandish when he was free, and while he considered himself as more intelligent now, these strange outings were always making him reconsider if he was really wiser now, or if he was just weirder.

But he knew one thing: his previous self wouldn't have ever stopped and made an actual plan, just confiding in his overwhelming power, and what happened when it wasn't enough? He got controlled and sealed in despicable human beings, with atrocious seals containing him by numbing his mind with pain, so he still had to consider his change as an improvement.

Still, sometimes he couldn't help but think that he wanted to be his past self. Things were oh so much simpler then, he didn't have to worry about what he said, he would have simply snarled at him whenever he visited him, would have tried to destroy his container with his poisonous chakra whenever he got angry, and break whatever was left of the boy's mind after his chakra was done with him, breaking from the seal without issues.

Simple, it just required...Well, it didn't really require anything outside of his container becoming angry, thus it was simple. Duh.

But instead he had to take the difficult route. Being friendly with his container was difficult at first, but it started to become easier and easier. And that worried him. Sometimes he had nightmares of the day he would be freed in which instead of slaughtering his host, he would simply give him a fist pump -shudder- and then ran off into the sunset, being careful to not destroy anything on the way.

It frankly scared him. He was losing his way of life, and not only was it only for the sake of a plan ever, Kurama was starting to even enjoy it.

The frightening possibility that he was losing his mind was a recurring thought that at its apex had him wishing for his previously savage personality.

But no, he couldn't just abandon his newly found intelligence for a slice of insanity, because right now, he could finally see things clearly, the veil of bloodlust lifted from his eyes. Now he could see the world for what it really was, and it wasn't his playground, a place in which his father put him to wait impatiently for an important event that he wasn't too keen on explaining.

He could see the beauty of nature, the grandness of a human city, of culture, of the arts that the humans liked to call as Ninja arts, and he hated it.

He didn't want to see it. He didn't care about a race so far beneath him, which only saving grace had been that the Sage of the Six paths, in his godly kindness, decided to help grow gifting them with chakra.

Before he was just like those human that pondered about how laborious and collaborative the ants were, before squashing them beneath their foot when they neared them or were simply in their path or, even more lamely, for amusement.

Well, he didn't even ponder about the human culture before, but who cares.

He didn't know anymore if he could bring himself to destroy a village without reminiscing about the loss of civilization, and it was horrible.

If he went down this road, he may even become guilty! Kurama didn't want a life of remorse, and he sure as hell wanted to do just what he wanted without consequences, but to think that some of the most fun he had ever had in the past could become impossible to have because of guilt, well it was maddening.

And it was all this human fault.

He didn't know how, he didn't know when, but in some ways, maybe with his new ability to control his chakra, he had become able to broaden the connection between the two, and now, he had not only to always see what his container did in his daily life, including what he would have never wished to see, he couldn't have a moment to himself anymore!

Everything he did was controlled, and it had grown to the point that he tried to be as silent as possible, sometimes he even thought that the little boy could read his mind! He had had close calls, like when he dropped in unexpected while he was roughly delineating for how much time he would have to guide him till he was able to kill Madara, and just barely did he stop himself from panicking when he asked:

"Hey, big fox, what are you doing? You trying to see how to guide me?" And just as he was beginning to sweat (even though it's impossible, he couldn't produce sweat), Naruto continued " In my shinobi career I mean. Hey, why are you sighing!"

And fortunately Kurama managed to defuse the situation after that.

That was the day he began to become paranoid. His life and his plan began to blur together, till he couldn't distinguish who he was anymore.

Was he Naruto's friend? Or was he still the beast who wanted his just revenge?

He truly didn't know anymore, but sooner or later he would have to find an answer, or he would become mad.

Now though there were more pressing matter, like the blonde-haired boy sitting in front of him.

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Naruto was confused.

He had really thought that by just practicing with his chakra enough, he would have been able to do anything shinobi could do effortlessly.

Well, maybe not taijutsu, there he had to train physically, but everything else should have become as easy as breathing.

Or that was what he thought, before actually failing in his graduation day. Really, he hadn't even accounted for the possibility that he would not pass, or what he would do if he didn't become a shinobi.

Hell, did jinchuuriki even have the chance to not become a shinobi?

He didn't know, and he was happy that he wouldn't have to find out, seeing as he miraculously passed in the exam through the secret backdoor that didn't exist before.

For a second, he actually thought that it was the fact that he was the host of Kurama that allowed him to pass, but he dismissed it.

In the end, he had been able to make a clone. And what a clone it was.

It was one of the many things he had to discuss with his furry friend about. How to better use his new jutsu.

That, and to have a second opinion on why he actually couldn't pass, seeing as according to all of his theories it should have worked, he shouldn't have been unable to do a bunshin.

It was just, _strange._

Anyway, with their better connection, Naruto was able to instantly appear in his mindscape in front of the big, invisible hand that contained Kurama inside of his mind.

Naruto had been giddy when he had found some of Kurama's chakra working inside his brain to, he supposed, help his mind work better, as that was what he felt was the most likely chance given the situation.

It could be a genjutsu, but Kurama wouldn't do it. He was just too much of a softie. And he would have felt if he was stuck in a genjutsu, he was rather well versed in illusion after all.

Anyway, bijuu's chakra brought with it the consciousness of the demon itself, so Naruto had discovered that to actually speak with the demon he just needed to put his spiritual chakra right next to Kurama's in his brain, and when they were tangent to each other, he could feel everything the demon was up to.

Imagine two circles representing their chakra, one, Naruto's and the other Kurama's. The nearest the circles were, the more they could hear what they were doing. If they touched, perfect clarity was achieved. Naruto though didn't know what would happen if they intersected, and he wasn't too interested to try.

As he appeared in, as he had taken to call it, Kurama's Playground, he could see the fox twitch.

Weird.

"Hey Kurama, what are you doing?" It was always good to at least try to understand why someone was randomly twitching.

It wasn't normal.

"Just fine, Naruto, just fine" Kurama gritted his teeth for a second, then ended with a sigh.

"Are you sure? You don't really seem that fine." Naruto was a little concerned.

"I did say I was fine, right?" Naruto nodded, giving a shrug. If he didn't want to tell, well, it was his secret.

"And anyway what are you even here for?" Kurama was alluding at the fact that they were practically connected 24/7, so the need to actually come here didn't exist.

"Well, it's always better to speak face to face, no?" Naruto shrugged again. "And anyway, I just, well, you know..."

"Get out with it" Kurama was so desperate these days that he couldn't even shout anymore at his container for fun. He just sighed again.

"Why did I fail at the exam? I was so sure that I did it right..." That was the crux of the matter, it just didn't make any sense to him. He had done everything right, so...

Kurama was somewhat prepared for this question. It was probably one of the best chances he had at influencing positively his host. Sure, he had seen how he had just let the moment get the best of him, and had further verified that it was just the surprise that led to his utter failing the Bunshin, but it wouldn't help him to know that, not at all.

Instead of comforting him with the truth, he would help him grow with a lie, and he was happy to have the chance to guide his host once again. Really, from sometime now it seems like he was just an observer, and he didn't like that. He wasn't useless damn it.

"Naruto, what have you been doing these last years?"

"Come on, you know it! I studied so much that my head still hurt when I think back to some of those things" Naruto whined.

"And that's the problem."

"Huh?"

"You didn't mention practice, physical training, or really anything outside studying" Seeing Naruto about to interrupt, he raised a paw. It was really intimidating.

"And you know why? Don't answer, it was rethoric." Kurama rolled his eyes at Naruto attempted interruptions."Because the only thing you put any real effort in was chakra theory. In fact, since you read that stupid myth all you've done was trying to imitate that great shinobi, that didn't even exist!" He almost shouted the last part. "I've been around for as long as chakra, and nobody existed that could do as this shinobi did, especially the part where he could break Ninjutsu with a glare! Or the part where whenever you touched him all of your tenketsu point would just explode! Or the part-"

"I get it I get it. Sheesh, what got you into such a bad mood?"

"Maybe the fact that you completely neglected practicing and left everything to luck? You could have not become a shinobi, and then what? Where would you have received training? Do I have to tell you everything?" Kurama shook his head.

"But-" Naruto tried.

"No buts" Kurama was steadfast "You can't just focus on one aspect of your training. Yes, it's important to be intelligent, hell, it's probably necessary for a shinobi, but you can't neglect training. Books are all kinds of good, and I mean it, but don't let them control you. Use them to better understand the world around you, but don't let your knowledge become your reality." Kurama understood that he was getting too philosophical (and he didn't even know what the word meant before he was sealed in Naruto), so he tried to use an example."Let me put it like this, you do remember what the symbol for Yin and Yang is, right? Just like in that circle, the border between physical and spiritual is blurred, hell, in one there is always a little part of the other. And that's how you have to approach your training, a blur of strength and intelligence, of Yin and Yang, of chakra." Honestly, Kurama was really proud of his newly found eloquence.

"I think I understand... So I guess that my idea of making my clones do the the physical work-out while I read isn't feasible?" Naruto said with a sheepish grin.

"How did you even- Never mind, what I want to know is what in the world let you think that you can improve your physical strength by using intangible clones? That's just stupid!"

"Well, when you put it like that..." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.

"You're becoming a slacker, do you really want to become like Shikamaru? I'm so disappointed, maybe you aren't worthy of being my container..." Kurama teased.

" No way I'm like that lazy ass! And don't you ever compare him to me again, understand fur-ball?" Lightning shoot from Naruto's eyes, but Kurama was still too tired to care.

"Whatever, ningen" Kurama said in a disinterested manner.

Naruto looked like he was about to continue to childishly banter with his friend, but visibly restrained himself.

"Well, so I've got another idea, regarding the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. I'm going to make really large groups of them, each working on a different skill. But I'm stuck on the number of clones I'll make for each group, so..."

"And that's the stupidest idea ever. Well actually, the each working on a skill thing was good, but then you had to ruin it by saying that you wanted your clones in "group".

They're you, Naruto, there's no way they'll magically think up different things than you just because they are numerous. You'll just receive an amount of practically identical memories that won't help you so much. No, to maximize this kind of training, you have to pick up a lot of different skills, you shouldn't concentrate on just some. And I don't think a normal mind can handle more than" Kurama did a quick calculus in his head "five clones, with your enhanced brain instead we can actually handle ten, maybe eleven, and with me inside you I can help you sort the memories perfectly, so it's a great training method for my container" He ended with a haughty tone.

Naruto had listened intently, and by the end of Kurama's rant he was nodding sagely.

"Ah, so that's the catch. I did think it was a little too overpowered to be honest. Well, now I'm a little disappointed.:."

"Look, you'll still receive ten times the training each time, so don't whine. That's stupid." Kurama said annoyed.

"Well, I gues-, wait, you said I couldn't do that because the memories became too much for my mind to handle, right? What if I make my clones share their memories in a constant stream? That way we won't have a rush of memories, it would be more spread out. It could work, right?" Naruto was surprised by his own genius.

"It might work, yes...But don't get your hopes up. And don't you dare put aside your practice for this crazy idea of yours." Kurama was worried that he would lose sight of what they just discussed.

"Don't worry, you big fox. I'll just let one of my clones do the work for me." Naruto seemed to have it all thought out, but they were just ideas that come up from nowhere.

"Well, then it's okay." Kurama nodded slowly.

"And other than that, what do I let my clones do? I mean, I did want to study elemental manipulation, but I don't know if I'm ready." Kurama held back a snort at that. He was more than ready.

"Well, why don't you repeat your Academy curriculum for now. You always put it aside, and now you can recuperate, so do it." Kurama wanted him to start his life as a shinobi as the better prepared one. "And of course you're ready, brat. You'll let five of your clones work on elemental manipulation, four at the Academy curriculum, and one you'll make it work on that side project of yours. You instead will work out, I want as good at taijutsu as that Uchiha brat." He ignored Naruto's whines. "I won't let you be bested by any Uchiha, you hear me?" Kurama grinned amused, which was really intimidating on his demonic face, except if you were Naruto. He wasn't scared of the fox.

"Okay. But with five clones working on elemental manipulation, on which element will I focus them? I mean, I heard that you said that it was useless, but surely if they do different exercises I will speed up training anyway." Naruto asked.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that, because you'll do all of them." The fox grinned.

"But that's impossible! You can't just tell me to pick them all!" Naruto protested.

"Oh, you will, and you'll do your best at them. Right?" A malicious aura came from behind Kurama, its darkness spreading toward the borders of his cage.

"S-Sure, just, stop that, ok?" Naruto shivered.

"Perfect! Now go on your merry way, it's difficult to think when there's so much idiocy around me" Kurama said cheerfully.

"Tch. Stupid fox" Naruto muttered as he vanished from his mindscape, a smirk on his face.

Kurama's angry cries followed him into the world of the living, but the smirk on his face didn't disappear.

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For the better part of the next week, Naruto trained in a way he had never before. The tediousness of physical work was getting to him, especially with the repetitive katas, which were really annoying. Kurama liked to pick on him every time he missed a stance, and that really made his frustration grew a little.

Still, he endured.

That ridiculous promise he had made obliged him to. He just had to go and make a promise to beat up THE Uchiha Madara, and now he would bare the results.

He didn't make empty promises.

The only other noticeable event in that week was a certain encounter, just when he was about to take his ninja's identity card equivalent.

_-Flashback-_

_Naruto woke up in a hurry, already running a little late for his photo. That's really all that was necessary for a ninja's identity card, outside of a little name-filling here and there._

_Already yesterday he forgot about it, and he had never seen his jiji so angry about anything. Rant about how "he wasn't taking this seriously" and about punctuality being fundamental to a ninja were employed in a successful attempt to shame him._

_Hey, it wasn't his fault! He had more important matters to attend, like his training._

_So it was understandable that as he found himself under the stern glare of his grandfather figure for being ten minutes late, thought about extravagant poses for his photo flew from his mind, and he instead chose to sit with an awkward smile and shifty eyes._

_He was followed by the stern stare of the Hokage all the way to the door, and it's needless to say that after closing the door behind him he sighed in relief._

_Man, jiji was really something._

_As he walked down the stairs, he saw a mop of blonde hair at the bottom of the stairs._

"_Hey Ino!" Naruto called from his position._

"_Huh? Oh, it's you" Ino's said absentmindedly. " You were here for the photo?" Naruto nodded "I hope you didn't do anything stupid, beca- wait you were promoted?" She almost screeched._

"_What did you expect?" Naruto said amused._

"_Well, you didn't pass, and then we saw that you were all alone by the swing and then we wanted to come but then-" Ino rambled flustered._

"_Nah, don't worry, I beat up Mizuki-sensei -oh, he was a traitor by the way- and Iruka-sensei just had to give me my forehead protector." Naruto said, as if he was talking about the weather. _

"_Sure, Naruto. I'm sure that's what happened." Ino said amused " You probably had to beg them to let you retake the exam" She added snidely._

"_Hey, that's not true! I earned that!" Naruto whined "You're just jealous that I got all the action by myself." He ended petulantly._

"_You can take all of your supposed action. I don't want any part in it. I have more important things to do." Ino said snobbishly. _

"_Sure, like stalking Sasuke" Naruto smiled teasingly._

"_I don't stalk him!" Ino blushed " I just want him back in our group! Nothing else, I swear." she added a little too quickly._

"_Right. Tell that to someone else, vice-president." Naruto said, referring to the already famous unofficial Sasuke fan-club, of which she was the supposed vice-president._

"_Shut up, you idiot!" Ino shouted "I gotta go take the photo, so bye" She hurried up the stairs and in the Hokage's office, leaving a laughing Naruto behind._

_-Flashback-_

Apart from that random encounter, he didn't see any of his friends, but he was rather preoccupied training, so he didn't really think about it.

His training took almost all the time from him, and Naruto learned what it means to be tired. Really tired. And not just physically, but mentally.

Everyday he went to sleep with a terrible headache, and even if he woke up right as rain the next morning, phantom pains still tormented his days.

Kurama told him that it wasn't really the elemental training that made him tired, those memories were easily sorted. No, the problem were the tedious hours spent by his clones on the different subjects of the academy.

There were too much information being dumped in his brain everyday, and even with Kurama's help training become more and more of a chore.

He wanted to be the best student the academy had to offer, but this was becoming torture. So, after three days, he ordered his clones to memorize the essential, so he could move on his education.

Just as the week came to a close, Kurama judged him as adequate in the bare minimum Naruto made his clones study. This freed up time for something else, and he finally could start something else.

Fuuinjutsu.

He had always been fascinated, but he had seen the reluctance Kurama showed whenever he brought up the subject, so he just filed it away for a later time, also because he was too caught up with his studies on chakra theories.

But now that he had the chance, he wanted to get back to the most complicated side of the ninja arts, his drive for it unchallenged. He just felt as if he had to do it, even if he didn't know why.

When he told this to the fox, Kurama just had this resigned face, as if he was expecting this moment to come.

He could study Fuuinjutsu for a total of two days before the time he was waiting for had come.

_-Team assignation Day-_

Naruto calmly walked the way from his house to the Academy. He had thought of bringing a book to read for the short trip, like he had seen that masked gray-haired guy do, but in the end he had decided to just try to be as cool as possible.

Thus, Naruto arrived at the Academy just in time, his hands in the pockets of his new outfit, which he had picked just the day before.

After all, now that he was a real ninja, he had to change from those simple shirt and pants he wore before and get into some proper shinobi clothes.

And that was how we find him in simple shinobi sandals- _they are for real shinobi, yes they are _the greedy shopkeeper told him-, gray cargo pants, baggy and with many pockets, just as he like it, and a reinforced blue jacket, with a hint of a simple black t-shirt peeking from underneath it.

And let's not forget the forehead protector that was, as could be expected, on his forehead, and his hair, blond and a little spiky, that would gently cross his hitai-ate in two short bangs that stopped just a little over his eyes.

In short, he thought that he looked awesome. And he didn't look so nerdy in this outfit, not like before at the very least.

He looked like a shinobi.

As usual as he walked the street, he could see suspicious, hesitant and happy stares on him from villagers, shinobi and medics respectively. Not everybody cared about a little brat who took a walk down the street, so he was ignored too.

He stopped to look at the Academy for a moment, before crossing the gate and metaphorically stepping in the world of ninja.

As he entered his classroom, he could see some surprised stares -as expected, he was one of the most talked fail of the school after all- and he returned them with a superior smirk.

The only ones that weren't surprised were his friend, who just waved him over. He took a seat and exchanged small talk, all of them trying to dissuade the anxiousness of the moment with practiced antics between friends.

Iruka finally entered the classroom and if anyone noticed the absence of Mizuki, nobody said anything about it.

"Quiet, quiet." Iruka said knowing that they wouldn't listen -just like the rest of the year-, and was pleasantly surprised that instead the class quieted down almost immediately.

His hands underneath the desk had already made the handseals necessary for his Big-Head jutsu, and he had to quietly disperse his gathered chakra. He hided this with a shake of his head, which conveyed also his surprise.

As he started his lecture, he took note of those who didn't listen and those who did, and was sadly unsurprised to note that nobody was truly listening.

Fangirls were looking with longing at a brooding Sasuke Uchiha, the other clan-heirs were trying and failing to mask their bored expression-apart from Shikamaru Nara, who was peacefully sleeping on his desk- and the other civilians were just either talking in whispers or looking at everything but him.

Well whatever, Iruka thought, let's get these brats out of my sight.

"And now" He made sure to emphasize what he was going to say" I will finally explain who is on which team." He said a little mockingly

After the first six teams, which were composed of either fangirls or civilian, he got to the important teams.

"Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura" The two leaned forward as if to see their next teammate"and Uchiha Sasuke" He finished, noticing the happy gleam in the girl eyes and the surprised expression Naruto sent to the Uchiha, who remained quiet.

"Team 8 will be Hinata Hyuuga, Aburama Shino and Inuzuka Kiba." The three friends looked at each other, and while Kiba let out a whoop of joy the other two simply smiled gently, or in Shino's case buzzed gently...Or something.

"Team 10 will be Yamanaha Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji." Shikamaru groaned from his place on the desk, Choji patted him on the back and Ino fumed silently.

_Wait a second_, though Iruka,_ 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9, yes there's a nine between 8 and 10 so... where's Team 9? _A quick glance on the team assignment paper revealed that there was no Team 9, so, while confused, he just shrugged it off.

On a clearing in Konoha, two weirdos, a weapon freak and a feminine boy all sneezed at the same time.

"And now, just wait here for your Sensei, okay kids?" With a patronizing gaze Iruka left the classroom, and on his way to celebrate being finally rid of those brats he passed many of those same brats future sensei.

Meanwhile in the classroom future teammates tried to familiarize better with varying level of success. Naturally Team 8 and 10 were already acquainted with each other so they just continued to talk excitedly, with a smile on their face. The civilian teams were rather depressed at not being with one of the clan heir, but they sort of expected it, so they tried to distract themselves with different tales of shinobi prowess.

Team 7 instead was a little bit different. Sasuke brooded, Sakura was too shy and Naruto instead was unsure of leaving his friends.

"Why don't you go to have fun with your teammates, Naruto?" Shikamaru drawled out, his eyes mocking.

"Yes, it seems logical to make bond with the one you will trust your back to in your mission" Shino said seriously.

"But, it's Sasuke! And I didn't even know we had a Sakura Haruno in our class!" Naruto exclaimed disbelieving.

"They're making fun of you, idiot" Kurama reminded him in his mind.

Naruto's mouth formed an "o" shape, before he shook his head when his friends started laughing.

"Yeah whatever, see you later" Naruto was embarassed as he made his way to Sasuke.

On the way he motioned to Sakura to walk with him and the girl with a "eep" of surprise got up and followed him. Did he mention that she had pink hair? Wow, that's weird.

Weird and awesome. Such a unique hair color.

"So...I'm Naruto, and you're Sakura right?" Naruto cursed himself for his lameness.

"Yes, are you a friend of Sasuke?" Sakura said with her cheeks dusted red.

"I guess, it's been awhile since we last spoke to each other though" That was all they said before they were within earshot of the Uchiha.

"Hey mama-boy" Naruto loudly exclaimed, before wincing as the entire class seemed to turn to him at the same time and glare. Hell, even shy little Sakura was glaring at him. And Hinata too, for some reasons.

Well, he had been pretty crude.

"Shut up Uzumaki" Sasuke glared coldly at him and returned to his brooding, even as the air of depression around him seemed to thicken.

After that every attempts to speak by Naruto were halted, and as everyone else was picked up by their Sensei and they remained the only team left, he just sighed and started to drift off, thinking of everything and nothing.

"Don't you dare brood on me, you brat" Until Kurama voice broke him out of his blissfull wonderings.

"Oh come on, let me have some peace furball" Naruto said lazily. In his mind obviously.

"What you call peace, I call brooding. And DON'T CALL ME FURBALL!" Kurama took a deep breath, while trying not to insult him.

"Oh, what are you gonna do about it, f,u,r,b,a,l,l?" Naruto drawled out the last word mockingly. "Don't you like it when I call you furball? Eh furball?"

That was the last straw.

"You bastard! I'll rip you apart, you stupid meatbag!" The Kyuubi thundered.

But he made a mistake. He charged at the _hand_ that was holding him prisoner, and then he was electrocuted. Badly. He actually whimpered.

Naruto, after an initial wince, started laughing like a fool, pounding his fist on the desk.

The fox could only quietly curse him.

"Bastard..."

"Did you actually whimp-"

"Ehm, why are you laughing, Naruto-san?" Sakura timid voice asked.

"Ah" Naruto scratched the back of his head embarrassed "Just a... joke I heard a while ago" He mumbled.

"Really? Then tell us." Sakura was suspicious.

"Ah...I forgot" Naruto used the lamest excuse ever, praying that it would actually work.

"If you say so..." Sakura said softly, slowly inching away from the clearly insane boy.

And so they relapsed in silence. They stayed that way, the only interruption an amused Iruka who made fun of them, for more than an hour.

Finally the door opened and in came a bored-looking gray-haired man, dressed in standard shinobi attire. The only strange thing was the black mask that covered his face, and his forehead protector over one of his eyes.

"My first impression of you... You're boring. Meet me on the roof" And he vanished like that, leaving leaves and three gob-smacked genin on his wake.

"He didn't even tell us his name." Naruto said dumbfounded. "Whatever, meet you there!" And he shimmered out of view. In reality he used a simple Genjutsu to mask himself, and he was running to the roof as fast as he could.

He was the first to the roof, to find Kakashi seated and reading that orange little book he had already seen somewhere in Konoha.

"Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

"Yes?" Kakashi seemed amused.

"Why did you run off like that, couldn't you tell us at least have told us your name?" Naruto asked still peeved at his sensei introduction.

"All in due time, all in due time" Kakashi said in a sage-like voice, which was kind of ruined by how avidly he was reading his book.

Just then his other two teammates came into view, both Sasuke faking a calm walk and Sakura right behind him.

Kakashi motioned for them to sit, and they sat in a roughly semi-circular shape around him.

"Now that we're all here, why don't you introduce yourself, like, dislike, dreams for the future and hobbies, those kind of things." He said waving his right hand dismissively.

"Why don't you show us first, sensei?" Sakura said softly. They all looked at her with slightly disbelieving expressions.

"What?" Sakura blushed.

"Nothing, don't worry." Kakashi sighed. "I'm Kakashi Hatake,I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…"

Team 7 sweat dropped together. What sort of leader did they have?

"You girl, introduce yourself" Kakashi said pointing to Sakura.

"I'm Sakura Haruno, my l-likes are" She glanced at Sasuke"I guess I like to read... And I dislike bullies" She scowled" My dream for the future?" She looked up pensively" Maybe, to become a great kunoichi, like Tsunade-sama! And I don't really have a hobby" She ended sheepishly.

"Good, blondie you're next" Kakashi looked at the son of his sensei with boredom in his eyes.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" He said loudly, his thumb pointing to his chest" I like training and reading! So I guess we're alike Sakura" He said beaming at the girl who smiled hesitantly." And I love ramen and my friends of course. The thing I dislike the most is probably someone, but I ain't telling ya who it is." He grinned slyly" My dream for the future is to become the strongest shinobi the world has ever seen" He loudly exclaimed " And my hobby is reading" He finished with a mumble

"And the last one" Kakashi pointed to the Uchiha.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I like few things and I dislike more than I like. My dream...no my ambition is to kill a certain man and make my clan prosper once again." Sasuke said with dead eyes and fingers interlaced under his chin.

"Now that we all know each other a little better, I will assign you your first mission." Kakashi waited for the suspence to build and just as he was about to be interrupted..."A survival mission." He ended with a smirk.

"But we've already done that at the Academy!" Naruto complained.

"Yes, but this is different. Consider this your genin test. Now I know you won't like what I'm about to tell you, oh no you won't like it at all" Kakashi chuckled.

"What is it" Even Sasuke was growing impatient it seem.

"Well, the thing is, that out of all the students who passed at the academy, only the 33% will really become genin, and the others will return to the academy." Kakashi smirked.

"What! And what was that test for?" Naruto loudly exclaimed.

"Why, it was to weed out all those who didn't even have the potential to be genin. Only the jounin-sensei can decide if you'll really become ninja." He waited for their protests to end "Be at training ground 7 at six A.M., and don't eat breakfast or you'll throw up." So saying, he vanished.

Naruto looked disbelievingly once again at the spot in which their sensei once was, then almost mechanically turned around waved at his teammates and went home.

He spent the rest of the afternoon training his usual way, in elemental training and fuuinjutsu.

He finally managed to totally cut his first leaf with wind chakra, and to make a good enough spark of fire chakra that it burnt the leaf he was working with. His lightning nature was still uncontrollable, and the earth chakra didn't listen to his comands, while water was just difficult. And fuuinjutsu was still a long way from being mastered. A really long way.

So he went to sleep early, as prepared as he could, while setting his alarm clock- Kurama- to wake him up at 5 o'clock.

-Demonic Changes-

At six AM sharp, Naruto arrived at the clearing, and promptly sat beneath a large tree. On a branch of the same tree he could sense Sasuke, but seeing as he didn't show himself, he decided to ignore him.

A minute later, a obviously still half-asleep Sakura entered Training Ground 7 with a shouted "I'm sorry for being late!" that penetrated the silence of the plain.

A set of blue eyes looked at her.

Even a set of charcoal black eyes looked at her.

She sheepishly walked the rest of the way, sat down next to Naruto and, after exchanging greeting, they started to talk for a while until Sasuke finally jumped down from his perch.

Sakura jumped, and Naruto jumped higher. He had forgotten that the Uchiha was there!

"Good morning" The Uchiha grumbled.

"G-Good morning Uchiha-san" Sakura, still half-frightened said with a hint of red on her cheeks.

Naruto took a few deep breath, reminding himself that he really shouldn't call him a bastard.

"Good morning" He said through clenched teeth. And the Uchiha smirked! That bastard!

"It seems like we have a long wait ahead of us, again" Sasuke deadpanned after a few moments of silence.

"Unfortunately" Naruto sighed.

They waited and waited and waited some more, getting angrier and angrier, till, after three hours, their jounin-sensei finally deigned to show up.

"Good morning!" He said cheerfully.

"Why were you so late?" Naruto asked with forced calm.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I got lost on the road of life" Kakashi smirked at the repressed anger in his students. "Anyway, are you ready?" After getting three nods, he continued "The test will consist of this" He took out two bells from his pouch, jingling them "Whoever take one of these bells will pass" He said simply.

"But there's only two!" Sakura exclaimed.

Again three heads looked at her with a sweatdrop.

"What? It's true!" She defended herself "Anyway, does that mean one of us won't pass?" She hurried to explain.

"Bravo! So you better be fast. And you only have until lunch time so you have to be _very _fast. And remember, if you aren't able to take a bell, you will be tied to a post and forced to watch as the others eat the delicious meal I reserved for them" He smirked. "And one more thing. Come at me with the intent to kill, or you won't take a bell."

"But what if we hurt you!" Sakura again exclaimed.

The sweatdrop on the others head grew more pronounced.

"Don't worry, you won't hurt me. After all, I'm a jonin." Kakashi shook his head at her naivete. "Let's begin this" So saying, he watched as Team 7 scattered.

He could sense Sakura, hidden as best as an academy student could, he guessed, right underneath the branch that Sasuke, who was trying to suppress his chakra with little success, was.

If he had to mark them, Sasuke was already Genin level, while Sakura was still too much of a student.

But, where's Naruto? His only visible eye widen as he couldn't find his chakra. He looked around, only to see a mop of blonde hair just from the corner of his eye, hidden badly in the foliage. He sighed, but then was surprised as his blond student got up from his crouched position and started to walk toward him.

As Naruto walked, the elements seemed to bend to his will, with lightning crashing beside him, fire and water surrounding him in an eternal clash that generated steam, which was dispelled by the unstable wind blowing from seemingly nowhere, all the while the earth seemed to bow to his will, with pillars of earth being left behind him at his every step.

Kakashi sighed. Could he be anymore obvious? He dispelled the Genjutsu with a simple flex of his chakra. He didn't even shout "Kai".

The world seemed to right itself, and it revealed a Naruto grinning in a carefree manner, but still walking toward him.

"Wasn't that awesome?" He shouted.

"So you didn't think that was going to work right? Because it didn't." Kakashi deadpanned."And I didn't know you were proficient in genjutsu" He let some suspect color his voice.

"It's not like the Academy teach us anything about the illusionary arts! And there's no test on them outside that stupid "Dispel this E Rank Genjutsu" test!" There was genuine anger in the blonde voice.

"True true." Kakashi chuckled "Well, so you mean to tell me that you're a Genjutsu prodigy?" He asked, while putting a hand to his pouch. "Show me what you've got" He said as he finally took his book from his pouch and started to read, to the dismay of everyone.

"Are you really going to read?" Naruto was answered by a perverted giggle. He sighed "Well, I won't waste this chance". He charged. And he was fast. One moment he was there, and the other he was right underneath Kakashi, a fist near his sensei's face.

Kakashi's eyes widened to epic proportions, just as Sakura's and Sasuke's, but he wasn't a jounin for nothing, and it was easy to redirect the punch to the side while stepping in Naruto's guard and flipping him to the ground, a kunai to his throat.

"How-" Just then Naruto poofed out of existance, revealing himself as a shadow clone. But Kakashi wasn't worried about that. No, what he was worried about was his book, that was flying over his head, till, with a plop, it crashed with a nearby lake surface.

Naruto's clone had surprised Kakashi so much that the jounin, in his hurry, had to drop Icha Icha, which was hit by the blonde redirected punch.

Kakashi jaw dropped, before he clenched it shut and started to radiate Killing Intent. That was the new Icha Icha edition, damn it!

Naruto smirked from where he was standing with his hands in his pockets, in the same place he was at the beginning of the test.

His plan was simple. Before the test even started, he concealed himself with a genjutsu, while a clone went to sloppily hide in the forest behind him. Afterward, the clone was to surprise his sensei with his newfound speed, a by-product of his training -who knew that running chakra throughout your body made you super-strong?- and try to take a bell.

His fist was a distraction, while the other hand was to go to the bells, but before he could, the clone was flipped upside down and dispelled.

"_That's a jounin for you_" He thought. He probably didn't even notice that the other hand was going for the bells, and only instinct saved him from a humiliating defeat.

He felt the Killing Intent, and panicked a little. "_Maybe I shouldn't have done that."_ Naruto was answered by a "No shit!" by his tenant, and then he prepared himself.

He weaved a genjutsu upon himself, but it didn't take hold. It was like every time he put up his illusion, it was dispelled, but that mean-

He didn't have time to think, as Kakashi was suddenly before him.

"First lesson! Taijutsu!" Kakashi shouted, his punch nearing his stomach.

Now, while Naruto could run at practically jounin-level speed, that didn't mean he had the reflexes to match. After all, it wasn't even a week since he had discovered that ability. He couldn't become used to it so fast, and he still got tunnel vision. Only experience would fix this problem.

So it is understandable that Kakashi's punch, that was thrown with almost all of his teacher strenght, reached him and sent him flying in the distant forest, before he was stopped by a tree. He blacked out for a moment, but he instantly regained consciousness, so he again disappeared from sight as fast as he could, and Kakashi let him go, slightly confused.

_I thought he would dodge that for sure, with the speed he showed before _he thought, a little guilty. _Still, I shouldn't have hit him that hard. I should have restrained myself._

Meanwhile Sasuke jaw dropped a little, before he got a determined gaze and started planning. He would have to play this slow and with strategy to have a chance to win.

In short time, he had a plan.

He loaded a trap full of weapons, which would be launched once a wire was cut, and prepared himself.

His sensei was still in the clearing, looking around, till his eyes rested on Sasuke's own eyes. The world stopped for a moment, before Sasuke turned tail and run, throwing a kunai at the wire that snapped it in two, dozens of weapons flying out of his "homemade" trap, which were promptly evaded by Kakashi with a Kawarimi, which left a poor log to bear the assault of the many blades.

Kakashi followed his student, curious as to what he had concocted, but still gradually gaining ground on him.

They arrived at a small clearing in the forest, naturally surrounded by tree, and Sasuke suddenly spun around and engaged his teacher in a fierce Taijutsu battle.

But everything he did wasn't enough. His punch was firmly blocked, just like the following kick, and even the spinning kick didn't faze his teacher, and just as his hand was nearing the bells, Kakashi disengaged and let him fall.

Sasuke was quick to retake his standard stance. But then, as they stared each other down, and Sasuke contemplated the use of his Ninjutsu, Sakura jumped down, kunai gleaming, from a tree just above Kakashi, while Naruto ran at full speed from the forest toward his sensei, and the two clashed with Kakashi at the same time, but they were blocked all the same.

In fact, Sakura's kunai was used to force Naruto to defend himself, which he did by grasping her wrist, and then Kakashi pushed Sakura, which resulted in the two tumbling to the ground, before they quickly parted from each other.

This forced Sasuke to reconsider his options. His ninjutsu was useless now, with the risk of burning one of his teammates. But a combined effort could work.

He had completely forgot about the bells issue.

"Sakura. Naruto. Let's work together on this one." Sasuke surprisingly said, making Kakashi's single eye widen.

_I guess I'll have to pass them _He thought happily _But still, let's see what they can do._

And he disappeared.

Naruto's eyes widened, before he dispelled the genjutsu. Even though he shouted "Guys, it's a Genjutsu!" he was impotent as he saw Kakashi rapidly dispatch of Sakura, then turn on Sasuke, who meanwhile had also dispelled the illusion.

They looked at each other, and then... They were chopped behind the neck by two Kakashi.

"Stupid boys, lifting their eyes off their opponent. Oh, and that's Lesson number 2, Ninjutsu, and 3, Genjutsu, for you!" He said cheerfully. He gestured to his clone and they began to carry their new students to the post near the food he had prepared as a second test, but then he went to do something he hadn't ever done before.

He went to buy other food.

He had already chose to promote this bunch, now he'll just have to torment them a little bit.

-Demonic Changes-

Naruto woke up.

He opened his eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the sun glare. When he felt ready, he looked around, and he found himself near the post where their supposed meal should be.

But there was more food than he remembered. As he processed this information, a smile grew on his face. _Does that mean?_

"No, not yet." Kakashi said with a eye-smile.

"How did you- Did you just read my mind?" Naruto exclaimed, not holding eye contact with his sensei for fear of being mind raped.

"Maybe" Kakashi said with a mysterious smile, that was mysterious because he had a mask over his face. "Anyway, let's wait for those three to wake up, before I decide your fate" He said seriously, while Naruto straightened himself.

After no more than two minutes, both of the other member of the team woke up. They were seemingly confused, till their face cleared and they looked hesitantly happy.

"No, you have not yet passed. I'll decide shortly your fate" Kakashi again frightened his students.

"So, why did you work together?" Kakashi was truly curious.

"Because that was the point of the exercise, was it not?" Naruto said seriously. "I'm the strongest genin of this year" Sasuke looked at him disbelievingly "and I couldn't even touch you. One of your punch sent me yards away. There was just no way I could ever win against you alone, and that was further proved when you just beat us anyway even though we were three on one. So that meant one thing. The purpose of the test couldn't be what you implied before. As we couldn't win alone, the only way to beat you was to cooperate, and that was what I did. I searched for Sakura, found her and brought her to where you were fighting with Sasuke." Naruto explained. "But still...we couldn't beat you, so I guess you will fail us?" All three of them looked down.

Now Kakashi felt almost like a dick for keeping them guessing.

"Don't worry" He sighed "You passed"

There was a moment of silence, before Naruto whooped in joy, Sasuke smirked and Sakura just stood there disbelievingly.

"What you did was exactly what I expect from my team. Remember, those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash." Kakashi cited his dear friend with a sad smile on his face.

"Now, seeing as you passed, I decided to give you a treat. The Kakashi all-you-can-eat buffet is here! Go on, go on, eat!" He incited.

The three deadpanned. The food was just enough for them to eat, it really wasn't a buffet.

"You call this a buffet?" Naruto said incredulous.

"What did you say? You want to leave your part to your teammates? How generous of you, Naruto!" Kakashi said in a obviously false happy voice.

"No no, I'll eat" Naruto hurried to the food, where he began to eat with his teammates.

Today was a wonderful day for Team 7. They waited, they fought, they ate and they bonded, and each of them could return home happy.

* * *

**AN**

**I tried to change the tone of the story, and this should be an example of how I intend to narrate Demonic Changes from now on.**

**If you worry about me following canon, don't worry. I just needed to do this, but I promise you that pretty soon it will deviate from it so much that you won't understand what happened ;)**

**I hope you liked the struggling of the Kyuubi, and maybe even Naruto personality. But that personality has its up and down as you see, and so Naruto doesn't even know who Sakura is. And she was bullied, she doesn't have that much self-confidence but she still has a stubborn crush on Sasuke.**

**Anyway, I really loved the reviews, and I thank you all for your support, especially those who took the time to point out flaws, and, of course, those who left a simple "Awesome story, hope you continue it". Thank you, you are the fuel that this story need to go on :P**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome to this new installment of Demonic Changes, hope you enjoy it :)**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything, in case you're wondering.**

* * *

-Demonic Changes-

Kakashi giggled from behind his orange book. He actually wasn't reading at the moment, but it was just _so_ fun to watch his team antics.

Or rather, their annoyed faces.

D-Rank missions had started just the day after the team was forged, and it's useless to say that the initial excitement of the new genins was stamped out quickly.

After all, what ninja hopeful would ever think that his first mission would be to take dogs for a walk, or babysitting newborns or, again weeding out a garden?

Obviously not any genin of Team 7, if their disgruntled faces were of any indication.

Ah, this was a glorious feeling! Watching them slave off while he did nothing but laugh at their misery!

And he had such fun inventing bullshit after bullshit when they came to him asking for explanations. He could still see their faces, begging for a answer to their plea, which he gave with sage-like wisdom every time.

_-Flashback-_

"_Why must we take these" Sasuke looked down in disgust "dogs for a walk? What's the purpose? It doesn't make any sense!" He was near crying in frustration._

"_Why, can't you see?" At the deadpan face he received as an answer he shook his head in mock remorse "Ah, and here I thought the Uchiha prodigy" You could taste the sarcasm in that word " would be able to look underneath the underneath." He sighed "Well, can't expect everything I guess." He shook his head " Don't you see that you're becoming stronger? No? Well that's because this is a test of...leadership, yes leadership, I have to see if you can lead a team, and what better way than taking dogs for a walk? Now, do you see the purpose?"_

"No"

"_I'm sorry, did you say something?"_

_-Some days later-_

"_So we are looking after these babies because we are training for a escort-mission?" Naruto tried to rationalize the chore._

"_Yes! Now why didn't I think of that?" Kakashi said amused, a finger on his cheek as if in thought._

_-The day after-_

"_These are just chores, right? We are used by the village, are we not?" Sakura said with a defeated face, now resigned to her fate._

"_Figured it ou- I mean, no! These are important training exercise, and you're even paid! You couldn't hope for anything better."  
_

_For some reasons, the three genins released a sigh of long suffering at the same time._

_-Flashback end-_

The joy of being a teacher! He would have already promoted a team from those countless he had failed if he knew it was this much fun.

Or maybe not, they were really useless as ninja, no talent whatsoever, and especially they couldn't grasp teamwork at all.

Instead his cute little students were really interesting, intelligent and, more importantly, better than those brats Guy called students. Team 7 could beat them hands down, no question.

Right now, after finishing another endless-for his genin- D-rank mission -weeding out the garden of a rather "happy" old lady- Kakashi and his team were headed towards the Hokage tower to debrief and finally go home, in fact it was already five in the afternoon, and considering that they were working together since nine in the morning, that was already eight hour of hard work, in which, other than the mission, they had also done a little bit of team training.

Hopefully they would get the hint and train personally after he dismissed them.

He was open to giving advice, but they had to ask. He wasn't going to be there for them every time they needed some help, so they had to man up.

Lately he was allowing -more like using- his students to report for him, to give them some experience. It wasn't because he was lazy, not at all.

"And that was when I, using the strength of a thousand suns, grabbed the traitorous weed and pulled, and even when it tried to resist me, I only pulled stronger, till with a great sound of wind being displaced I finally upturned it, bringing with it some of the mortal earth beneath it" Naruto reported monotonously, much to the amusement of all those present in the room, except for his fellow genin, who shared his pain.

"So everything went as expected?" The Hokage asked looking at Kakashi with a twinkle in his eyes.

Kakashi nodded, his eyes never leaving his precious book.

"Well then, you're dismissed. And Naruto, you'd make a good storyteller" He said holding back a chuckle.

"Thank you, old man" Naruto said in a excessively happy voice, after which he turned and, alongside his team walked out of the door and in the open.

"Well, I'm got to go now, see you tomorrow?" Naruto said in a disinterested voice as he walked away.

"Yeah/Sure" Sasuke and Sakura answered, just as much disinterested the first and shyly the second.

The blond haired shinobi walked to his favorite clearing, where, cloaked as best as possible from unwanted eyes, he started his training.

He had come quite far since he first started, that day three weeks and five days ago, especially in Fuuinjutsu. For some reasons, the art just seemed to _click_ with him in a way that just wasn't normal. Fuuinjutsu was a art in which you couldn't jump from one subject to another, simply because of fear of blowing yourself up or the other brutal death that were brutally depicted in practically every book of the art in existence.

Point of the matter, DON'T skip ahead.

And that limited the use of his Shadow clones a little, but not enough that he couldn't just read everything with five clones while practicing afterward. The theory couldn't really hurt you, nope it couldn't.

So, in three weeks he managed to get quite far in his studies, and if he had to place himself he could honestly say that he knew at least as much as the ordinary chuunin.

On the other hand, his elemental training was proceeding tediously slow, progressing only with one element, wind, where he could now use his wind to cut interesting shapes on leafs. Fire was as uncontrollable as ever, lightning was still unresponsive, same as earth, while water was just difficult because it just didn't damp uniformly that damn leaf.

But he had made incredible progress in every jutsu he already knew, mastering them for battle and probably better than some jounin, and he had also been able to use a Shadow clone that sent his memories live at his mind, but it was more stressful then a normal one, so his idea of using it to train was shot. Still, it was something he created, so he would cherish it, just like the "Bunshin Army", which was basically a mix of the normal Bunshin and the Shadow Clone, which would hopefully surprise the enemy. His hope was to add every type of clones to the jutsu, so that it would truly be a unpredictable technique.

He was even improving physically, so he thought that he was practically ready for anything a genin is fated to encounter.

Still, training was such a chore, and even if he liked to get stronger, Madara Uchiha was a rather distant goal, and the repetitiveness of his work out was beginning to get to him.

But, as Kurama always told him, "You got to suck it up". And that's what he did.

And so, another long day of monotonous training was ahead of him.

Joy.

-Demonic Changes-

It was difficult to be a giant beast of destruction, Kurama mused.

Especially when your freedom was practically non-existent and you were sealed in a little boy, who wanted to be your friend at any cost.

Really, why couldn't he just get out and destroy something? All the pent up suppressed rage and hatred was really getting to him. Sleeping seemed to be the cure, but he couldn't very well sleep when that brat constantly wanted to speak to him, now could he?

Of course not.

Sigh. How low has the great Kitsune fallen.

On the other hand though, he was learning a lot in this brief period of enslavement, certainly more than what he was able to in his other two prison. Maybe Naruto didn't know, but he was learning everything the boy did, especially seals. This would assure that when he got out of here, he wouldn't be sealed anymore, no sir.

So, it could be said that he hadn't fallen that low, it was just a short period of hiatus in which the Kitsune was recuperating and improving his strengths.

Just a little pause of learning, hell, you could even call it a learning trip. Right.

It seemed lately that that was how he rationalized everything that happened that he couldn't justify anymore with "It's part of the plan".

He certainly wouldn't love humans, but unfortunately now he just had to respect them, I mean, first one had controlled him, the King of Bijuus, then another one had beaten him into the ground with fucking trees, and afterward one had summoned the Shinigami and sealed him in his newborn son.

Rationally, that meant that sometimes, beneath all the uselessness of the human race, there were some incredible personality who could grow to aspiring height under their own power, shaking themselves off the shackles which bounded to the mortal realm, ascending to other heights, because only an ascended being could beat him, of that he was sure, and if human had the capacity of doing just that, well, then they bear respect.

Only those who could naturally.

The rest were still useless trash which he could trash(ah, how witty) around at his own will, and no trash could ever order him around or stay on the same plane as he, who of demons is the king.

Or at least that was what his thought brought him to. He couldn't deny them.

And that was why Naruto, who naturally wasn't trash by virtue of being born and raised underneath his influence, could, slowly, maybe earn his respect. Because he was a genius, no doubt about that, and Kurama had no doubt. He will become one of the strongest shinobi in recorded history.

The great beast slowly rested his immense head on his just as immense paws, closing an eye lazily. All these thoughts were making him sleepy.

Well, some sleep couldn't hurt.

-Demonic Changes-

Naruto ended his training routine almost exhausted but not quite, in fact he was getting accustomed to it, and was feeling better every day he worked out.

Maybe a strong mind really did reside in a strong body.

Because he was slowly feeling calmer and more confident every day that passed, and that brought also a sense of peacefulness that bode well for his young mind.

Unfortunately that same sense of peacefulness was impaired by the depression he felt at having to do chores after chores for his village. He wanted to go on real mission, against real shinobi and having real battles.

He thought that his talent was wasted doing useless D-rank missions. And he may have been even right, but he didn't know that his teacher was waiting for their teamwork to improve and for some basic skill to be learned before going out there against the real bad scary ninja world.

You had to be able to, for example set a fire in a way that couldn't be noticed when you camped, and there were so many subtleties that it took some time beating them in the head of young genin. It was a problem shared by teacher worldwide, and it wasn't resolved without real contact with the world anyway, so it was pretty much simply a problem of how much the sensei wanted to shield his students.

And Kakashi lately had had some stray thought about their capabilities in handling a C-rank, so he was near asking the Hokage for his approval for those simple missions outside the village.

And the last D-rank mission was the infamous search for Tora, or, more realistically, the demon cat, where in an amusing display of struggle the three genin fought against the numerous attempts at escape of the aforementioned cat, that somehow could wriggle it's way out of almost any grip, but finally, after a good thirty minutes, it was viciously captured and held in a vice grip by our blonde haired little menace, who was nearly suffocating the poor animal in such a tight hold that the eyes of the feline were bulging out, its breath coming in shallow wheezes.

But Naruto could care less when half an hour of his time and half of his face was covered by scratches. He was almost hoping it died, because there was no mercy for the cat, especially after the last three instances where it managed to escape because he was too lenient with the demon. No more mistakes, he had the throbbing of the scratches to remind himself.

The walk to the Hokage tower was long but hurried, Team 7 trying to get there as fast as possible, but being held back by a calmly giggling Kakashi, who was being as laid back as he could.

"Come on guys, what's the hurry? It's just a cat" He said with a mocking smile that more than seen was felt by his young three charges.

"Shut up, you don't know what it's like, so don't talk! And hurry up, lazy-ass!" Naruto said after Kakashi was glared enough for his tastes, his teammates nodding, one with a scowl and the other with a determined face.

Silence accompanied them on their walk, alongside the eventual squeal of the demon cat and the natural sounds of a bustling town.

After they entered the Hokage tower, they took the stairs and entered the Hokage's office, after getting the required clearance by one of the secretaries.

There the saw a rather fat lady, wearing rich jewels and a finely decorated dress, pacing this way and that, muttering under her breath. Behind her they could see the exasperation mixed with amusement of the Sandaime, who as soon as he saw them motioned them to come in.

"Come on in, Team 7. I trust you've done your jo-" He started to say before he was rudely interrupted.

"TORA! WHERE WERE YOU! Oh I was so worried my little sweety, that I didn't know what to do!" And the fat lady continued to ramble nonsensically, maybe without knowing that she had just interrupted one of the most powerful ninja in the world, but the Hokage took it in good spirit, only chuckling amused.

"Well, then, you've obviously completed the mission" Here he throw another amused glance at the fat lady, who in reality was the Daimyo wife. "Well, then are you here for another mission? There's weeding the garden, another babysitting mission, "TORA!" " And retrieving a cat" He said without blinking.

"Oh yes, I'm so happy. This is what I became a ninja for, to babysit brats and retrieve cats." Naruto mumbled sarcastically.

"Oh? What is this? A young genin thinks he has what it takes to be a real ninja?" The Hokage said, to which Naruto first winched at having been heard, but then a fire lit in his eyes.

"Yes I do, old man! What, do you think I can't do it?" He said challengingly, to which everyone in the room palmed his face.

"So that's what you want? Fine" Here he sent a look at Kakashi, who slowly nodded, though if he was conscious of it or if it was simply a show of affirmation to what he was reading and giggling about, nobody could say. "What do you think about a C-Rank mission? Yes, that's what you'll do, call the bridge builder." He motioned to one of the ninja nearby.

"Team 7" Sarutobi barked out, to which everybody in the room, even those who weren't called, stood to attention. He smirked. "Your mission is to protect Tazuna, a bridge builder from the Land of Wave, till the completion of his bridge, which will hopefully allow more trade to come to Konoha, so it's a mission of the utmost importance. Don't fail." He said imperiously.

For some reason, some of the more experienced shinobi rolled their eyes and had small smiles on their faces that were quickly extinguished when they were stared at by the Hokage,

Soon afterwards, a rather normal looking man, on his sixties, walked in, glasses on his face and a bottle of sakè in hand. He took a quick swig of the bottle, before lazily looking over the team that was to be assigned to protect him.

"What's up with these brats" And he had three kids scowling at him " Don't tell me they will be the ninja I hired to protect me? I want a team of real shinobi!" He said with a whine.

Naruto wanted to strangle the useless old man, but he forced down the impulse beneath a mask of face politeness.

"We are real shinobi, and you better watch what you say, esteemed client" Naruto said twirling a Kunai innocently in his hands.

"Don't mind him" Kakashi said with a sweatdrop when he saw that Tazuna started to become scared. "He won't kill you in your sleep." Now the bridge builder was really scared " And if he try I will protect you" Tazuna breathed a sigh of relief " If I'm not asleep"

"WHAT!" Tazuna shouted, while a lot of the shinobi present chuckled with amusement.

"I was joking, don't worry, I'm an elite jounin, any threat that we will encounter will be taken care by me personally" Kakashi chuckled.

"Ah! Don't scare me like that!" A noticeably humbled civilian said. "Meet me at the gate an hour from now, little ninja" Not humbled enough, it seems, if his mocking parting shot was anything to go by.

Tazuna turned and walked out of the door, closing it behind him, not hearing the sound that the kunai Naruto threw made against the just then closed door.

The boy had his head lowered, and an aura of darkness permeated the air behind him, making a lot of the people behind him sweatdrop.

"That man. He piss me off" Was all Naruto said, before storming out of the door, without even waiting for his dismissal.

The Hokage only chuckled, alongside Kakashi, while the rest of the ninja were left to stare after the retreating back of the boy weirdly.

Finally, Hiruzen dismissed Team 7, telling Kakashi to remain behind. Suddenly, all of the shinobi got the message, and they exited the office.

"So, how's Team 7?" The Hokage said casually.

"Pretty good so far, Hokage-sama, their teamwork is good enough I guess, and Naruto and Sasuke are already good shinobi, while Sakura is working for it" Kakashi said in a lazy drawl, the shadow of a smirk on his masked face.

"You know what I'm asking about. I want to know what you think of Naruto potential. I already know enough about the Uchiha "greatness" to last me for the rest of my years" He said a little exasperated, referencing to some of the more, ah, useless council member arguments.

Kakashi straightened up.

"Naruto... He's a strange one. He is strong, enough that I think he could make chuunin easily, and I even think that lately he's been holding back in training, it almost seem as if he think it's not worth his time" He mused "As far as physical ability goes, he doesn't really have a style, but he somehow managed to use the high level taijutsu skill of channeling chakra through the limbs effectively enough that he can move at jounin speed, so he may not have need for a style "He said with a sweatdrop" But his true strength lies in genjutsu, I can actually say that only Kurenai in this village can perhaps equal him in that field, because he had somehow discovered a way to use illusions without handsign, and there doesn't seem to be a way to discern how he's doing it. I personally think he has such a deep understanding of chakra that he can manipulate it to suits his every needs" The Hokage made a humming sounds "And in Ninjutsu the only thing impairing him is his scarce knowledge of jutsu. What else?" Kakashi tapped his chin in thought " Well, I have a doubt" He hesitated "I think that sometimes he is talking to the fox..."

"Oh, well spotted. Yes, I think he's been talking with the bijuu for years now, but it doesn't seem to have negative effects and he doesn't seem to have revenge impulses, so I'll let it go." The Hokage said carelessly.

"But what if-"

"Ah, there's also the fact that I made a Yamanaka scan his mind while he was asleep, and he only found that Naruto had a friendly relations with a strangely sentient and intelligent Kyuubi, or should I say Kurama? Yes, it has a name" Hiruzen clarified after seeing Kakashi's surprised expression.

"But, what you did, to Naruto no less..." Kakashi let it hang there.

"I know. But the village came first." The Hokage said with steely eyes. " And I just _had _to know if... If it was the fox who..." He ended in a whisper, his hat lowered to hide his guilt.

"I understand, Hokage-sama." Kakashi softly said, his head bowed.

"Dismissed"

-Demonic Changes-

Meanwhile Naruto lied on his bed, still a little angered by the mocking comments of the bridge builder.

"Yes, that's true, but I just hate being underestimated" Naruto was speaking in his mind with his tenant.

"But there's nothing wrong in being underestimated, maybe it's even an advantage!" Kurama argued. "I mean, would you prefer that your opponents underestimated you and gave you an easy fight or that they fought you at their top and beat you?"

"I..." Naruto knew the rational answer, but it would be a lie to say that he wanted easy fights. "Don't know. What I know, is that I want to be able to best anyone at their top, not because I was underestimated. But I also know that right now I can't beat everyone, so I guess I can let some misdirection do the work for me" He said hesitantly " But that doesn't mean that when someone tells me that I'm a little useless shinobi I can't be angry" He ended stubbornly, his arms crossed.

Kurama sighed. That kind of attitude wasn't planned, hell, it seemed a little like Naruto was taking after him in that regard, that kind of proud attitude was something he also shared. For some reason, the thought filled him with a bubbly feeling in his chest.

No way. Was he proud of the little meatbag?

_Really unexpected._

"Then you simply need to become stronger, and remember that stronger doesn't mean simply being the one with more power, but also being cunning and intelligent, they are all factors that summed together make you strong. You can't be powerful without cunning, and you can't be cunning without power, if you want to be the strongest. So, using the situations that are presented to you doesn't mean that, even if it doesn't seems honorable, you aren't powerful, just that you're also intelligent." Kurama ended nodding.

"If you say so. But I'm already intelligent, and I know I'm strong for my age, so I don't need to use such underhanded tactics" Naruto said.

"Arrogant little ningen! Just the fact that you're saying something like that, mean that you didn't understand anything about what I just said! It doesn't matter, even if you're the strongest person on the planet it doesn't mean that you can simply stop to care about using a situation to your advantages! That would be so arrogant and stupid, not to mention childish! Grow up!" Kurama snapped his jaw once, a mad glint in his eyes that actually scared Naruto a little.

Then he seemed to return in control of himself.

"Listen, I want you to be strong, never doubt that, and I'm even starting to respect you, but you're arrogance sometimes need to be contained. You're not the strongest, you're not the smartest and you don't have nearly enough experience. You have to wait and grow up before you can stake claim to that, and I'm sure that you can do it!" Kurama grinned, a rather bloodthirsty expression for anyone who wasn't Naruto.

"Yeah I guess. Thanks Kurama, now I got to go prepare myself" Naruto grinned briefly, before he faded from the midscape.

"Tch. That brat" Kurama grumbled, but there was a small smile on his face.

-Demonic Changes-

Naruto met with the rest of Team 7 right on time, and, as usual, he had to wait for his lazy sensei to arrive.

After only ten minutes of waiting, Kakashi showed up, which prompted weird looks from his students and a relieved sigh and a "Finally" from Tazuna.

"Well, let's go" Kakashi said cheerfully, already behind the orange cover of his book.

He ordered for his genin to form a diamond formation around Tazuna, with him at the top, Sakura to the left, Naruto to the right and Sasuke to the back.

After some time of walking, Kakashi turned to his students and saw that they were still staring at him.

"What" He said in a deadpan.

"Nothing" All three genin said in unison, while still weirded out by the strange fact that was a Kakashi only ten minutes late.

After a brief lunch on the road, the five person group walked for another hour, till Kakashi noted something strange.

"Mh, a puddle, and it hasn't rained in days" Kakashi really wanted to roll his eyes, but he managed to keep his face emotionless.

He subtly looked behind him to see if anybody else noticed anything. Sakura was still busy looking around in wonderment, and she was obviously clueless of the danger ahead, while Naruto was not-so-subtly looking at the puddle and then at him, repeatedly, with a growing expression of comical dread on his face. He couldn't really see Sasuke from his position, because Tazuna was in the way, so he didn't know if the Uchiha was aware of the situation.

No matter, their opponent was obviously an amateur.

It could be a way to test his little genin, he thought, and so, just as two ninja -missing nin from the hidden mist, he noticed- wrapped their chains around him, he used a perfect Kawarimi interlaced with a genjutsu, escaping from their grasp and hiding in the trees surrounding them.

Naruto briefly didn't understand what happened, but then he found that he could still sense his sensei suppressed chakra, so he ignored Sakura screech of "SENSEI" and the monotonous and almost robotic "One down" that came from one of the ninja.

"SASUKE!" He shouted " Take the one on the right!" He saw the other boy nod from the corner of his eyes, but he was already dashing against his opponent, which he could see he had visibly surprised.

On the other side he could see Sasuke opening with shuriken, that impacted against the strange chain-like weapon that linked the two ninja they were pitted against, ironically bringing them with it till the shuriken hit a tree, and also distancing Naruto from his enemy, making him overextend his punch.

Meanwhile the two Demon Brothers freed themselves by breaking the chain in two, and one was quick to act on Naruto moment of imbalance, bringing his bladed gauntlet dripping with poison near his chin.

Just as it was about to hit him though, the blond haired ninja managed to pull a Kawarimi which brought him behind his enemy, a log in his place.

He spared a moment to scowl in Sasuke direction, before he launched himself at his opponent, a right kick rapidly sent at the missing nin mid-section, which made him crumble on himself, but he wasn't a chuunin for nothing, and another fist was sent at him, which he had to use his left leg to deflect, leaving him standing on his arms.

Here he had a strange idea.

He twisted himself and added a little wind natured chakra to his twist, which had the effect of pushing the enemy's arms away, while the missing nin obviously anchored himself with chakra at his feet, but the suddenness of the move was enough for Naruto to land two square kicks on the man jaw, which were strong enough to send him to the ground, spittle and blood flying off his mouth.

He rapidly got up, but by then Naruto had the time to ensnare him in a distorting genjutsu, which made him stumble for a moment, but it was enough for the Konoha ninja to land a powerful punch his head, along with something he improvised at the moment. A simple chakra pulse in the brain, with the intent to shut down his consciousness.

Somehow, he had successfully combined taijutsu and genjutsu.

He looked to his right, where Sasuke was locked in a power struggle with the other ninja, and quickly sent a kunai in that direction.

The two jumped away from each other to avoid the projectile weapon, which sailed uselessly in the void created by the two.

Naruto went near Sasuke, and prepared himself for the struggle, exactly like the Uchiha.

But just then, Kakashi jumped from his hiding place and in a show of terrifying ease knocked out the missing nin.

"Well, I hope that I won't need to find answer from these rogue ninja, right Tazuna-san?" Kakashi asked politely, a tinge of Killing Intent to show he was serious.

The bridge builder started to sweat.

"I don't know anything about them!" He blurted out.

"Really, do you take me for a fool?" The killing intent grew.

Silence.

A sweatdrop slowly descended the side of Tazuna's face, till he lowered his head and consequently make it fall.

So he wowed a tale of a tyrant, named Gato, who was one of the richest men in the world, about how he subjugated Wave to his will by taking control of the sea and the trade, leaving the nation at his whims and poor, about how the bridge he was building was the only hope of his country and about how they would cry if they didn't get help and blah blah blah.

As one Team 7 sighed.

"Now my conscience won't let me refuse to continue" Sakura mumbled.

Meanwhile Sasuke and Naruto were arguing.

"Who do you think you are! You almost made me get killed!" Naruto shouted in Sasuke face, their forehead touching.

"What?! I was simply trying to get them both in one move, what's wrong with that?!" Sasuke rebutted.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe I said you were supposed to handle the one on the RIGHT! NOT BOTH" Naruto started mocking and ended shouting.

"Well, you're not the squad leader, you don't order me around." Sasuke scowled.

Naruto bristled, and then they were forcibly separated by a smiling Kakashi.

"Don't mind them, they are just so happy to continue the mission." Kakashi smiled at Tazuna " Well, let me officially say that Team 7 is happy to continue your mission, even if you don't deserve it." Kakashi said cheerfully, while a sweatdrop formed on Tazuna's head.

* * *

**Author Notes:  
It's been some time, but I'm just too lazy and my mind is too full of ideas. Anyway, what I'm really interested about is what you think of the general relations between my character, are they believable? Are they stupid? I don't know, because I'm the author I'm too biased to give a honest opinion.  
And I _really_ want to know what you think about the fight, short as it was. I didn't really have enough material from the Demon Brothers to make it as exciting as could be, but meh, I tried.**

**You could have noticed that it was a little short this chapter, but that's because this is setting for the Wave Arc, which I really want to hurry to end and get on finally with ideas more my own and less canon. It's obvious that my Naruto is different than canon Naruto, and even Sakura is (if you have noticed that she didn't ask useless questions that she should already know, a cookie for you :), so it's impossible that the story would go exactly the same as canon.**

**I'll fucking change it a lot after this.**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: Me not own nothingies, me can promize!**

**AN: Welcome my dear reader! Hope you enjoy another chapter, in which I hope I wasn't too bad. I mean, I know my grammar isn't the best, but I'm only your not-so-average 17 years old who's not even english, so blame, uh, HIM! Yes him.**

**PS: If you find any grammar mistake, you can tell me, even in PM if you want :)**

**Now, just to make something clear, I believe that I fell in the godlike trap, because no matter what I do, my Naruto become only stronger. Now I understand why Kishimoto made him stupid, there was no other way to nerf him! Make him a little smarter and Naruto become god-like in two arcs. **

**But I won't allow that, no sir! His strength will reach that of Madara, maybe just as soon as after the time of the end of the training trip, but till then he will have enemies that will be really cunning and powerful. After that there's Akatsuki, so I don't have to worry about good fights! Anyone from that Red Dawn group can give an hard time to any S-class Ninja!**

**And just to be clear, Naruto here is still a little bookworm who hasn't really experienced the ninja world, so it's normal to be scared for him.**

** Thor94: Seeing as I can't use privates message with you, I'll answer you here. In Canon there's no sign of mobs being formed to go against Naruto or villagers who overpriced him for his goods, that was all Fanon. The only thigs we know of that "abuse" is neglect from villagers who didn't even know him, and that there were some people in the village, like Mizuki, who hated him because they thought he was the Kyuubi. If you read my first chapter I cleverly said that as he was born in canon there was an aura of red chakra full of killing intent that helped in the spreading of the idea that he was the demon, but in this story I instead said that he was only another adorable baby in the care of the hospital. For your other doubt, I'll say that I always thought that Naruto had an overabundance of yang chakra, which contributed to his hyperactive behaviour, because yang is the physical side of chakra and it implies a strong sense of action, while yin is calmer, and seeing as it was implied in canon that if you were intelligent you had more yin while a stronger body had more yang, that mean that with more spiritual chakra Naruto should be more intelligent, even if you don't take in account that Kurama is enhancing his brain. Hope I was clear enough :)**

**Anyway, on with the story!**

* * *

-Demonic Changes-

Naruto was still a little peeved off.

Sure, call him childish, but he just had his first near death encounter, and he was still feeling the shivers every once in a while, not that he showed it to anyone.

"Ahahah, you're a little scaredy cat, aren't you? Well aren't you?" He couldn't hide it from Kurama though, and the fox hadn't had this much fun since he playfully took his first world wide run.

The playful teasing grew old in the last hour or so. Naruto was beginning to get tired of it.

And it was all that idiot fault!

If Sasuke had just done what he had said, none of this would have happened, and he wouldn't be shivering every other minutes. Hell, even Kakashi sometimes threw careful glance at him by now!

Still, he was better than this. So what if he was near killed? He got out of it just fine, so he shouldn't worry anymore.

He took a deep breath and finally was able to still his nerves, returning to a more manageable condition.

By now they had finally crossed the great forest that surrounded Konoha, reaching a short hill, from which a small porting town could be seen.

At the leisure pace they were walking, a distance that an average ninja could cover in five minutes took more than half an hour.

In the time they took to get there, while there was still light, they could already see the moon opposite to the sun in the darkening sky.

Tazuna explained that an acquaintance of his would be able to take them across the large mass of water that separated them from the Land of Wave. But then Kakashi made a strange request.

"Let's first have dinner in this lovely town, eh Tazuna-san?" He asked/ordered.

"Sure, but why?" Tazuna was confused, but was quick to agree to Kakashi's request.

"We Ninja need to have food to be able to function at 100%, civilian-san." Kakashi said with an eye-smile, to which Tazuna just nodded confused, a sweatdrop forming on his head.

But he could see that the three kids in his convoy were just as confused as him, so he just let it be.

They reached a seemingly empty restaurant, even if it would be better to refer to it as a pub, which they entered, and they quickly took seats, a lovely waitress ready to take their orders as soon as they entered.

It seemed as if they didn't make that much business in this almost desolated town.

They quickly took their orders, and Kakashi, while mysteriously eating through his mask -_a seal,_ Naruto mused- , somehow managed to look serious.

"Team, I'll say it right now. As we are right now, we're in over our heads" He halted the predicted protested with a single raised hand "It's not because we're not strong enough, not because the enemy out there is too strong, even if there's probably a jounin level opponent next"He mused "It's simply because you are not prepared to go through such dangerous situation while not only rookies, but also in contrast." Here he glared at Naruto and Sasuke "You seem to have the strange idea that one of you can order the other, but I can assure you, that _I_ am the only authority you have to listen to, and my order are as follows. Naruto, Sasuke, be on the lookout for threats, and Sakura, you're support, so if you see one of them in difficulty, go help them. I've seen you do great things together in training, so don't forget everything you learned when you go out there" He pointed to the door, a stern expression on his face. " But every order I gave you means nothing, because the first thing you'll have to care about is our client., his safety will be your foremost thought. Any threats will be handled by me, you will just have to worry about Tazuna-san. Am I clear?"

He was answered by three "Hai, sensei", to which he nodded, got up from his chair and, like any ninja worth his salt, sprinted to the door leaving his young genin to pay for his meal.

Meanwhile, he mused.

_I wonder if this delay will throw off their game? Meh, no matter._

-Demonic Changes-

A progressively denser fog accompanied Team 7 as they crossed the water surrounding the Land of Wave, the boat they were on creaking every once in a while, making some of the travelers winch every time.

It was a setting worthy of a horror film, and tension was at an all time high.

Knowing that anytime a jounin could attack them was nerves-wrecking, and it could be felt from the silence that everyone was immersed into.

The silhouette of the bridge that was soon to be built made itself known to the group, eliciting awed looks from all of them, and a smug expression on Tazuna's face.

They were near the coast by now.

"You" Naruto pointed to the bridge with a incredulous expression on his face while looking at Tazuna " made all _that?_"

"Yup, that's my super awesome bridge. Isn't it wonderful?" Tazuna said incredibly smug.

"I would have never believed you could create something like that if I hadn't seen it myself" Sakura whispered to herself, disbelief colored on her face.

Everyone looked at her, not expecting such a harsh opinion from the shy girl.

Sakura blushed.

"What" She tried to say, but Naruto shouted first.

"LOOK OUT!" A gigantic wave of water was headed their way, its size dwarfing the small boat they were still in. It was like a mountain was about to crash into them.

Kakashi didn't know what to do, he couldn't save everyone and still be able to fight the strong foe that was obviously waiting for them on the shore.

The only things he could do were too chakra extensive, like another water jutsu, which would backlash horribly or simply use shadow clones to get them all to safety.

_That dinner will cost us our life, _Kakashi thought.

That was when he heard five distinct poof, from which five Naruto clones came to life. Kakashi didn't know what Naruto hoped to do, but he couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Sensei! I'll get them to the other side! I trust you can look after yourself, right?" Naruto grinned, and his clones quickly took Sakura, Sasuke, Tazuna and his friend and jumped, quickly followed by Naruto himself and a relieved Kakashi.

And at the last second too, because the small tsunami soon after crashed into the boat, bringing it to depths unknown.

They landed on the water surface, and in a sprint cleared the last fifty meters in less than two seconds gliding across water, Kakashi looking surprised for a moment at Naruto. They reached the shore and skidded on the sandy ground for a second, before fully stopping, a little peeved that they couldn't find their enemy.

Naruto even tried using his sensory skills, but he couldn't find them.

In silence, Naruto and Kakashi advanced into the scarce forest ahead of them, leaving two shocked genin and two near crying civilian behind them.

Sasuke was the first to recover, and, after giving her a look, Sakura returned to her senses. The two urged the civilian to walk, but only Tazuna obeyed. The other just collapsed to his knees and ordered them to go ahead without him, to which they could only obey.

Sasuke and Sakura formed a perimeter around Tazuna, Sasuke at the front, Sakura at the bottom and two Naruto at either flanks.

Kakashi had some question for his blonde genin, but for now they could wait.

"Naruto, go protect the others, I'll take it from here" Kakashi said reassuringly.

After giving him an annoyed look, Naruto did as he asked, albeit with a peeved expression on his face, and soon after four poof were heard, signaling the dispelling of four Kage Bunshin.

They reorganized with the last clone and Naruto at the flanks, Sakura at the bottom and Sasuke at the top, naturally all around Tazuna.

"What was that?" Sasuke whispered urgently.

"I just saved you. Don't bother thanking me, you jerk. It's not like you're alive because of me..." Naruto trailed off, a smug smirk on his face.

Sasuke only scoffed, turning the other way, while annoyed that his teammate didn't answer his question.

"Thank you" Sakura whispered shyly, and only the last remaining clone heard her, and it smiled and nodded looking at her, which prompted a small blush.

It was not even three minutes that they started walking that they realized that the fog was thickening with every step they took.

"Team, this is the work of our enemy, be on your guar- SHIT, GET DOWN!" Kakashi screamed and was down in a instant, while the others were a little slower, Tazuna helped by a Naruto Clone.

Sakura was a little too slow, and even as she throw herself to the ground, the silhouette of the sword made it clear that she would be beheaded if nothing happened.

Naruto gritted his teeth, he could feel the object coming their way, and it was loaded with chakra, but he still had to try. He took a kunai out of his pouch and charged it with wind chakra, then he held it up toward the object, his head bowed to avoid any damage if his plan didn't work.

In the end it was useless, because his clone jumped in the way of the sword in his place, and was able to deviate it enough that Sakura lost only a hair on her head, leaving a poof as proof of its heroic action.

Naruto sweated. He still couldn't really channel wind chakra in weapons, especially such cheap ones, so he was sure it wouldn't have done as he wanted.

The giant sword flew till it was clenched deep inside the bark of a tree, its only meal a pink hair.

Suddenly a figure appeared on top of the bladed weapon, arms crossed. He was a tall man, his torso bare, while striped blue trousers were on his legs, and he had strange leg and arm warmers. But the most interesting pieces of clothing he had were the bandages over his mouth and neck and the forehead protector with the slashed Kiri sign.

A missing nin, and not an average one at that.

_Maybe I should buy something to cover the lower part of my face too _Naruto thought somehow amused, before shaking this weird thought out of his head.

As always when there was a fight, the Kyuubi quieted down and just observed.

If it was possible, the mist become even ticker, the form of their opponent blurring.

"Ah, so that's why the Demon Brothers failed." Zabuza nodded seriously " With Sharingan no Kakashi as their opponent, it's really no wonder." Sasuke's eyes widened.

_Sharingan?That's my kekkai genkai, how is it...could it be? _

"Are you the one who sent after us that huge wave? Because that was awesome, Hoshigaki Kisame" Naruto said in a sage-like voice.

Kakashi shook his head, while Zabuza bristled.

"It seems like your generation isn't that well informed, blonde brat." Zabuza scowled.

"You're not Hoshigaki Kisame? Ah, right he was the fish one, so you are... uh." Naruto looked up in thought "Well, you _are _one of the Seven Ninja Swordsman, right?" Zabuza nodded, an offended expression on his face "Well, then I was partly right." Naruto said stubbornly.

"Stupid brat, you'll be the first I kill." Zabuza simply decided to get back to what he was paid for. Kill that bridge builder.

"So, you don't think you can just give me that old man, Kakashi?" Zabuza asked, already knowing the answer, and he may have grinned, but who knows.

"Sorry, no can do, _Zabuza Momochi" _Kakashi looked at Naruto, who made a sound of realization "It would look bad for Konoha if we just handed our client to you." Kakashi said seriously, getting ready for the inevitable fight.

Tension was at an all time high, before the missing nin made a handseal.

"Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu" Zabuza disappeared behind the veil of the mist.

And then the fog thickened to absurd levels, before the group of young shinobi was targeted by the strongest Killing Intent they had ever felt.

"Eight places" came Zabuza's voice, seemingly from nowhere.

"The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, kidney, brain and heart. Now, which vital organ do you want to get struck at?" Zabuza's bloodlust become palpable.

Even Sasuke, as strong willed as he was, was contemplating suicide, Sakura was paralyzed by fear and Naruto stilled, his hair shadowing his face, but a tremor still shook his body every once in a while.

"Snap out of it!""Don't worry, I'll protect you till I die!" Kurama and Kakashi's exclamations were enough to make anyone return to a more battle ready state, Naruto and Sasuke cursing themself for their moment of weakness.

Team 7 quickly reformed a careful ring around Tazuna, as ready as they could be, while Kakashi lowered his mask, revealing a blood red eye. The Sharingan.

"Careful, Zabusa's known for his silent killing technique, he'll kill you before you know it if you're not on guard" Kakashi warned his team.

And that was when, without a sound, a figure appeared in front of Naruto, who had only a second to think. _"Ghost?" _Before he was beheaded.

And then he just went _poof,_ white smoke adding itself to the already misty atmosphere.

Naruto grinned from his position behind Tazuna. Kage Bunshin are really incredibly useful, and by now creating them and exchanging place with a well placed Kawarimi was second nature. Well, not really, but he liked to believe that he was getting there.

"Damn, how could I hav-" Zabuza's looked down to see a kunai sticking from his chest, before he dissolved, leaving water in his place.

Kakashi frowned, before he too was killed, but again he revealed himself to be a Water Clone.

The real Kakashi finally appeared behind Zabuza, a kunai pointed to his jugular.

"Now I've got you!" He said triumphantly. Zabuza twitched, before he turned on himself, Kubikiriboucho poised to strike. Kakashi, even if surprised, was still fast, and managed to receive only a cut on his right biceps, before he brought down his Kunai, but from the vein he stroke squirted not blood, but water, which got him to widen his eyes in surprise and turn around. But there was nothing behind him.

Meanwhile Zabuza had his eyes set on the team of genin.

"That brat..." He gritted his teeth.

The source of his anger was naturally Naruto, who was attempting something that he had never done before. He was blasting wind chakra all around him, in an attempt to rid his team of the annoying fog.

It wasn't working, but that was because Zabuza was actively working to keep his mist together.

"Meh, whatever, I always did like it better to be blunt" Zabuza smirked and let his hold on the mist fade, which caused it to be quickly dispersed by Naruto, who was now smirking too.

Meanwhile, Kakashi used this time to disappear underground, confounding his opponent who couldn't see him anymore.

But he expected that, so when he spurted out of the ground he was ready to jump back in a perfectly executed back-flip, doing handseals all the way.

His mouth swelled, and he spat two ball of water in rapid succession at his opponent, but Kakashi was able to dodge them with ease, running to the right in a fast sprint, his hands easily slipping in familiar seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball)" He shouted, while drawing two kunai, charging them with lightning chakra and throwing them behind the fireball.

Zabuza hastily erected a wall of water, which stopped the fire jutsu easily enough, generating steam, but the lightning charged kunai, when they hit his wall, discharged all the stored electricity through the water, and considering that even the air after the mist was humid, generated visible sparks that touched Zabuza, whose eyes had widened.

Steam hid the view, but soon the figure of a stinged but still in condition to fight Zabuza became visible. Kakashi sighed.

"That was nowhere near enough to beat the Demon of the Mist!" Zabuza shouted maniacally, his left arm fuming white smoke, but still able to do handsigns.

Naruto, seeing his mental state, quickly used a genjutsu which made him see Kakashi running to the side, as if to flank him, while doing his exact same handsigns.

Zabuza turned in the direction of the illusionary Kakashi.

"What! You bastard, are you copying me?!" Zabuza shouted

The grey haired jounin, who was effectively doing those handsigns, looked confused for a moment, before understanding showed on his face. Still, he was already gathering chakra for his technique, so he decided that he might as well finish it.

Just as Zabuza jerked as if to dodge a kunai, his jutsu was finally unleashed on innocent foliage, which was crushed by a dragon of water of epic proportions.

While Zabuza was laughing at his own apparent victory, Kakashi unleashed his own dragon of water, which was exactly the same in size as that of Zabuza, and directed it over the missing nin, who was then cut and shredded by the highly dangerous jutsu, a confused expression appearing briefly on his face before he was swallowed by the maws of the dragon.

As he was spat out of the destructive water, he crashed on the ground, hitting it harshly.

"Genjutsu?" He mumbled incoherently.

"Yup, my cute little genin did it, aren't you ashamed?" Kakashi mocked, before taking out a kunai and directing it right over Zabuza's heart.

But it was not to be, because senbon needles were thrown at the missing nin neck, which caused him to completely collapse on the ground, his body dead.

A masked hunter nin in a distinctively Kiri uniform then appeared in front of Kakashi, stilling his arm.

"Thank you, Konoha nin, but from now on its Kiri business" The young voice of the ninja echoed in the empty valley in a excessively polite voice.

"You're an hunter nin from Kiri?" Kakashi asked confused, to which the shinobi only nodded and, with a last bow, jumped in the water nearby, somehow disappearing through it, not leaving any trace of him behind.

"Wait!" Kakashi shout went unanswered.

"Well, that was anti-climatic" Kakashi said to himself awkwardly. _Still, shouldn't he have burnt the body? Bah, who knows, with Kiri in the state it is right now it could have changed, I guess... _Kakashi mused unconvinced, pulling his headband over his left eye, covering his Sharingan to preserve his reserves of chakra.

"Good job team, you handled this pretty well!" He eye-smiled cheerful. "Now, I'm a little tired and confused about this whole situation, so if you could lead us to your home, Tazuna-san?" The bridge builder nodded with fear still in his eyes, and if he had soiled himself, nobody commented, apart from some disgusted looks from Sasuke and Naruto.

And so they restarted their journey, their destination clear. Sasuke was angry at himself, Sakura was just glad they made it out alive and Naruto was happy with himself, so he started annoying Kurama, who just let out a long groan of exasperation.

-Demonic Changes-

While not exhausted, Kakashi could still feel tiredness slowly settling in, so, after they were welcomed in Tazuna's house by a lovely lady, named Tsunami, he excused himself and just crashed on his bed, crying a little on the inside at not being able to ogle some more the young woman.

Meanwhile Tsunami, after worrying over the safety of her father, graciously offered a quickly cooked up meal, which all of the genin eat with gusto, even if Sasuke was still disappointed at how he fared against his first real threat.

_If I can't even beat that swordsman, then how can I ever... _Sasuke clenched his fists, anger almost clouding his vision before he managed to rein it in.

Naruto thanked Tsunami with stars in his eyes for the homemade meal, which he had frankly loved. Instant ramen and simple recipes can only get you so far after all, and diversity was the spice of life.

The woman simply smiled amused, and then ushered them to their just prepared rooms, the three genin quickly falling asleep in their futon, the air still tense because of a brooding Sasuke, whom Sakura was too shy to approach and Naruto just was too smug today to care.

Hey, he had just helped beat a jounin while his teammates did nothing!

The next morning Kakashi woke up at the crack of dawn, and finally reassembled his thoughts. There was no way that masked shinobi was a Kiri hunter nin. The political climate in Mist was really peculiar, but it was more brutally peculiar than strange, and burning the body down wouldn't have hurt any of the secrets Zabuza could have, because the Demon of the Mist wasn't a bloodline user, but only an incredibly good swordsman, with one of the famous swords of Kiri in his hand and a skilled water user. There was nothing that could entice an hunter nin enough to not burn the body.

So it wasn't a third party, because if it was, it would have burnt the body to make the scene more believable. And that left an accomplice masqueraded as the hunter nin.

Kakashi sighed. _I'm getting too old for this shit _he thought, before suddenly realizing what he had just thought about and freezing. He wasn't even thirty and he was considering himself old!

For some reason, he cursed Guy and his youthfullness, before shaking his head and wondering if he had finally gone crazy.

He exited his room and decided to wake up his students. He entered their room and shocked them awake one by one, eliciting squeal, grunts and curses from his genins.

He concealed his amusement at their reactions by putting up a serious mask, which was also needed for what he was about to say.

"Team, Zabuza is alive." He just dropped the bomb bluntly and without any sense of tact.

The genins, who were just a moment before cursing him, quieted down.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE IS ALIVE!" Before they screamed at the same time.

"I meant what I just said, he is alive." Kakashi said amused. His team took a collective breath in annoyment.

"Why do you believe he is alive, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as calm as he could be for all of them.

Kakashi sighed.

"That hunter-nin. He should have burnt the body, that's the protocol. I thought something was weird about the situation, but you know, Kiri is strange so I guess I just chalked it up to a weird Mist-thing that I didn't know about. I may have been also pumped up from my awesome fight." He said sheepishly "But there's just no reason to not burn Zabuza's body, if that was a Kiri hunter-nin. Which brings to my conclusion. That masked shinobi is Zabuza's accomplice and he fooled us good, too good in fact. Because those senbon, even if they've not killed him, have at least put Zabuza in a death-like state, from which you can't just recover after a day. I give it a week, give or take a few days before we'll have to deal with him again, and in that time, I'll train you" Kakashi ended confidently.

"Finally" Sasuke blurted out, before looking around embarrassed.

Naruto busted out laughing and Sakura giggled, while Kakashi just looked amused.

"Anyway, we'll get a quick breakfast from our good hosts, then we'll head to the woods." Kakashi almost ordered, while thinking that sooner or later he would have to talk to Naruto about his newly displayed skills.

After breakfast they quickly departed from the house and, after finding a good enough clearing, Kakashi sat on a tree stump and began lecturing.

"Today you'll learn to climb trees" Kakashi explained without really explaining anything.

"But we already know how to climb trees!" Sakura whined, while Sasuke grunted and Naruto smirked.

Kakashi sighed, and decided that a visual demonstration would be what his genin needed, though he believed that at least one of them already knew what he was about to teach, especially because he had such a smug smirk on his face.

He turned, whipped his trusted book out, and walked up the nearest tree, seemingly defeating gravity, and strangely also his book defied the fundamental force.

He drew some surprised gasps, to which he smirked happily, and nodded to himself at the not-so-surprised expression on Naruto's face.

"How are you doing that, sensei?" Sasuke's question brought questioning eyes on the boy, everyone wondering about his strange behaviour.

"Didn't expect that question from you" Kakashi muttered under his breath "But anyway" He continued with a eye-smile" You just have to find the right quantity of chakra to put in your feet to stuck to the tree just like me, too much you will break the bark and launch yourself off the tree and too little will just make you slip. Oh, and it's said that if you can master this exercise you can potentially learn all techniques, given enough time naturally." Kakashi ended.

"Ne, and what if, potentially mind you, one of us had already mastered all these simple chakra control exercises a _long_ time ago?" Naruto said nonchalantly.

"You mean there are more?" Sasuke asked inquisitively.

"Oh yes, and I can already do all of them, so I think I should do something else" Naruto hinted.

"And how exactly did you learn them? In fact, how did you learn all of your skills? You're too young to know all of that, especially because you weren't regarded as a prodigy in the academy, and I'm sure you would have been if you had showed all of those abilities" Kakashi asked the questions he had been holding for a while.

"I'm a Jinchuuriki. I'm bound to be awesome" Naruto exclaimed cheekily, grinning brightly.

His teammates stumbled on the strange word the blonde shinobi used, repeating it under their breath trying to understand what it could mean. Kakashi instead just looked really surprised, his mouth open in amazement at the bluntness in which Naruto revealed a S-class secret so casually.

"You know that's a secret that you shouldn't pronounce so boldly to everyone, right?" Kakashi eyebrow twitched.

"Why not? I'm proud to be Kurama's partner, and I'm even blessed with this amazing intellect, so you can be sure that I'm not shy of my 'burden' " Naruto said the last word with heavy sarcasm.

"You're saying that it's because of the fox that you were able to learn chakra control exercise?" Kakashi asked a little incredulous.

"Well, not really, it was more of a consequence of being so intelligent "Let it never be said that he was modest "And I really liked chakra theory, so I kinda read everything I could on the subject, which included a lot of suggestions about what kind of training I could do if I wanted to control my chakra, and I found that as a side-effect of the seal I have perfect, and I mean perfect, chakra control. Yes, perfect." He added when he saw that Kakashi was trying to ask something.

"No, I mean... whatever, if it's like that, I guess I should teach you something else..." He trailed off "Hey, so that's why you can move that fast, you've got perfect chakra control so it would be a joke for you to use advanced taijutsu techniques!" Kakashi said as if he had come to a realization.

"Yep, that's how I can be so awesome, and I have to thank my little furball for this" Naruto smirked before winching at the loud protests of the demon fox. It was more like cursing to be honest.

"Anyway, you two, I will oversee your training, while my shadow clone looks after our little genius here" He ruffled Naruto's hair, while a clone suddenly popped into existence in front of Naruto, and gestured for him to follow.

While Kakashi launched two kunais at the genin, his Shadow Clone and Naruto disappeared from the view of the others, finding a nearby clearing with a small river flowing through it.

"I think I'll teach you how to use Shunshin, it's an important skill for a shinobi after all..." The clone said, a finger tapping his chin.

"So, look here the handseals are-"

"Before that, can you explain to me the theory behind it?" Naruto asked to a perplexed Kakashi.

"Okay, if that's what you want" The clone was still dubious "You need to make your chakra run through your legs and I guess you also burst some of it out of your back" Kakashi hadn't ever explained Shunshin like this. "Then you let some chakra leak between your destination and your former position, leaving a line of chakra behind you, I guess, but if you just make the handseals, you just have to imagine your destination, so I suggest learning with them" Kakashi proposed.

"Nah, it's okay, and I believe I now understand how it works" Naruto smirked, and then he was behind his sensei, a streak of visible chakra behind him.

Kakashi eyes widened.

"Now I have a question. Is chakra faster than light? I guess it's slower, so do you know how much slower it is?" Naruto asked, an idea slowly growing in his head.

"It's... between 50 and 100 meters per second, or something like that. I don't really know, I didn't really study these things, but I guessed you wanted to know about Shunshin's speed, and that's how fast it is, around one hundred meters per second for a master of the jutsu." Kakashi said a little blindly.

"You guessed right!" Naruto grinned "Do you think one can change the proprieties of chakra to match light?" Naruto grin reached blinding levels.

"Nobody tried, but it probably would need a bloodline limit or something" Kakashi said dismissively.

"I think I can do it, I'll match my father speed!" Naruto pumped his fist.

"You know of your heritage?!" Kakashi was surprised "I guess the Sandaime told you eh?"

"Yep, and the Kyuubi too!" Naruto said happily.

"Oh, that explain it. Well if you're that good at learning jutsu, there's no doubt you inherited your father talent" Kakashi said, a hint of pride coloring his voice.

"If you say so, but I'll be even better than the Yondaime, so some skills are my own only." Naruto said stubbornly, his thirst for greatness showing along with the pride in his skills.

"Sure sure" Kakashi said humorously.

"Hey! I'm serious!" Naruto shouted, but his teacher only laughed.

This was how they spent the time they had before the inevitable battle, with Sakura and Sasuke practicing tree walking and Naruto working towards higher and higher skills, learning jutsu after jutsu, quickly leaving the Uchiha more and more in the dust.

-Demonic Changes-

Kurama was smug.

It filled him with such _happiness _to see so much hatred condensed in one being, and the fact that it was directed at him only heightened the feeling.

Of course, the Uchiha hated his container in reality, but he could always pretend that such negative emotions were directed towards him and he would get such pleasurable shivers.

He _almost _moaned.

But those hate filled glare the descendant of Madara, because he was _his _descendant and that only sweetened the sensation, were really so glorious to a beast of negativity like him. It was like the Uchiha was sending love filled glances to the fox and he didn't even know it.

Of course, if he knew that he was making a demon such as Kurama happy in any way, he would probably just stop staring at Naruto.

But oh, the anger, oh, the hate! The jealousy ran rampant inside the black haired boy.

He was probably feeling impotent at this moment, because he, who had trained all of his life to be the best, was being eclipsed by his once friend, and without effort! It was like Naruto could learn everything he wanted easily, like he was born for this! Just like Itachi.

And speaking of Naruto, the beast was really proud of him, and unfortunately there was no denying the fact.

Kurama was proud of Naruto, he admitted to himself, but only to himself.

Still, if he could not even deny anymore to himself that he was proud of the boy, the least he could do was take pleasure from what happen on the world outside, thing that he had prohibited to himself till now, because it would imply that he was proud of the blonde, and he didn't want that at the time, so he tried to look at reality as detached as he could be, not that it really worked.

And that was how, on the fourth day of training, when Naruto, after waking up early, walked to an empty clearing to begin his usual early morning workout, which he instituted just that morning because of the aforementioned fact that he woke up early, when he saw a young girl bending to collect some herbs, whom he identified as the masked shinobi from before, Kurama only whispered "It's him", before sitting on his haunches and waiting for the show to come.

He couldn't will popcorn into existence, but if he could and he knew what popcorn were, he totally would.

-Demonic Changes-

"It's him"

Naruto stiffened for a moment after hearing his tenant whisper, before stopping completely. As he dropped his chakra to not perceptible levels, he could only hope that the ninja wasn't capable of sensing chakra.

Fortunately it seemed that he wasn't, because he continued his work as if nothing interrupted him.

Naruto jumped up one of the many trees surrounding the clearing, hiding in the foliage as best as he could, and slowly and carefully began to approach a better position, so as to be able to knock out his opponent without fuss. Fortunately, the not-masked ninja moved humming cheerfully toward a protruding plant that was also right underneath the shadow of a tree, his back turned to the trunk.

In an instant, Naruto was in the branch above the ninja, and as he slipped a kunai in his hand, just in case, he jumped.

_Swish._

In a blindingly fast movement the now serious ninja slipped senbons in his right hand and turned all in one movement, the needles flying true towards his target.

Naruto had only one moment to widen his eyes, before he shunshined to the ground just as he would have been impaled by the probably poisoned needles.

Naruto dropped his stance and sighed in relief, wiping his head with the hand not holding the kunai, while the still unidentified shinobi only seemed to get more tense, but did not attack

"Wow, I didn't think you would have reacted that fast! When did you sense me?" Naruto asked.

"Before you entered the clearing" The shinobi said, a barely there hint of pride in his voice.

"So, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konoha, what's your name?" Naruto again asked casually, hands opened in a show of sincerity.

"Haku." It seems that this Haku was really unemotional, because not a muscle moved in his face, while his eyes were always in movement.

"No need to fear" _Poof _"This clone of mine is just going to get my sensei before we start our match, what do you- "He yelped, as a wave of needles were sent after him and his clone, and while his clone was able to evade them all in his bid to get Kakashi, Naruto wasn't that lucky, and one grazed his arm while he tried to shunshin between them.

Yeah, it wasn't really his best idea.

"Hey come on! Where are your manners!" Naruto shouted, while the clone disappeared in the forest behind them.

"Tsk" Haku turned and run, his direction unknown. Evidently he thought that he couldn't handle Kakashi.

Naruto give chase with shouted curses and thrown kunai aplenty, before Haku finally stopped on the shore just beneath the great bridge, handseals being made in surprising speed.

Meanwhile Naruto summoned and dispelled a clone to inform of his location the Kage Bunshin he sent to Kakashi.

And then Haku, in a incredible display of Ninjutsu, created an uncountable number of weapons of all kinds, swords, knife, spears, hammers, scythes and even shields and all other kinds of bladed and blunt weapons known to the world.

They raised from the water in a terrifying show, freezing almost as soon as they left the surface of the water, till the enormous wall of weapons towered at the same height of the bridge nearby, casting an ominous shadow over Naruto and Haku raised her hand to the sky.

"I'm sorry" Haku whispered, but in the silence of the clearing it could be heard as clear as a shout, before she lowered her hand in a finishing motion toward Naruto, and the weapons, as if following her order, launched at terrifying speeds toward Naruto, forming a sphere of death around him, before closing on him.

Some of the early workers on Tazuna's bridge shouted in terror at what they were witnessing.

"Don't be! This is a real challenge" Naruto laughed, before he concentrated on his chakra, ignoring Kurama alarmed shout of "Do something, quick!", changing it to the wind nature.

Around him, air started to circulate with strength, lifting his hair in the hair.

"Naruto's Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" He shouted to the wind.

And the wind answered.

A normal Great Breakthrough sent a wave of compressed air at the opponent, hitting him with enough blunt force to knock a normal ninja unconscious, but Naruto modified the jutsu in shape and effect.

Visible twisting wind rotated stronger and stronger around him, before expanding in a spherical wave in every directions around him.

He still didn't think it was complete, he had to make this a _flaming_ sphere of wind for the jutsu to be perfect. So he snapped his fingers, and a small spark of fire lit the air around him ablaze, before being carried at immense speed in a orange flash with the wind, a circle of fire surrounding Naruto.

The range was still too short, but there was time to work on that.

The jutsu miraculously almost managed to stop the wall of weapon in their place, but the ice jutsu was too strong to be completely stopped.

Still, they slowed down considerably, enough that every weapon around him clattered uselessly on the ground, while those directly above him were slowed enough that his shunshin was enough to save him from a premature death, even if he couldn't dodge the small cut that a particularly vicious scythe inflicted him as he escaped, but overall, he managed to got out of the situation rather well.

He came out of the shunshin in a half crouch, hissing from the injury and glaring at his opponent.

"Hey, that could have killed me!" Naruto shouted and he could have sworn that he saw Haku wince.

"That...was not supposed to happen." Haku was now in a disadvantage, half her reserves were depleted, and Naruto had only a superficial wound to show for it.

Still, that did not deter her, she still had her secret jutsu, but it would be moments before Kakashi arrived to the scene, and if that happened she knew she had lost. There was no way she would be able to beat Sharingan no Kakashi and this blonde haired boy at the same time, especially when she couldn't even beat Naruto.

"Did I surprise you then?" Naruto smiled amused.

"Yes, and now you have me at a disadvantage. Your teacher is going to land in this clearing soon, and then you and I know that I've lost. I've to resort to something even stronger than my previous jutsu to end you" _Especially because my secret jutsu would take too long to beat you s_he thought as she steeled her heart.

Two hands began making handseals at the same time, using the not-so-widely known half seals to complete whatever sequence she needed twice at the same time.

Naruto became instantly worried. He barely managed to escape from the last jutsu, and now she says that she has something even stronger in her arsenal? That was really worrying.

So he used a genjutsu on her. She couldn't very well use Release to escape the genjutsu while she was making the handsigns, at least if she didn't want to drop the jutsu.

He didn't want to mock her, but his twisted mind put her in a dolls' house, changing her environment so thoroughly that even a civilian would know he was stuck in a illusion, just so she knew that she had to drop her jutsu if she wanted to end the genjutsu, or use one of the more esoteric ways to end an illusion, like pain.

But in the meantime, he disappeared in the trees, carefully placing a second illusion over the first, this one more realistic, which would be triggered by the release of the first genjutsu, and it would show him in a dash towards her, a kunai drawn in the air.

Naturally he would have never made it, considering the distance, before she could drop whatever she was creating behind her with that huge amount of chakra on his head.

He had zeroed his chakra, so even if she had some sensory skills, she wouldn't be able to sense him. Meanwhile he wondered where in the hell was Kakashi, but it was only a passing thought.

He saw Haku bit her lips, before she ended her twin handseals

"_Hyōton: Sōryū Bōfūsetsu"_(Ice Release: Twin Dragon Blizzard) And two ice dragons emerged in silent roars from the water, freezing as they grew, till they represented the beast of legends.

The aforementioned spectators from the bridge again screamed.

Haku looked dispassionately in front of her, before commanding her jutsu to descend on the ground in front of her, and the two dragons blindingly fast executed her orders, so fast in fact that if Naruto blinked he might have missed them move.

Then they crashed in a amazingly loud boom, after which splinters of ice flew in all directions taking down a few trees and forcing Naruto to take cover, while the jaws of the truly massive dragons tore an impressive hole in the ground, leaving the land forever scarred.

Haku sighed sadly, then turned and hurried back towards her master, never suspecting that a blonde haired shinobi might be following her, especially because she has supposedly squished him just a moment ago.

-Demonic Changes-

Meanwhile Kakashi finally arrived at the scene of the battle, finding a barren wasteland to welcome him.

Naruto's clone was still with him, so that meant that the original was alive at the very least, and that made him less worried.

He searched along with the clone for anything that might be linked with the blonde and was just a breath away from summoning his trusted dogs when the clone yelled.

"Sensei! I found something!" He said looking at the trunk of a tree.

On it was written:

Following enemy

Stealth

No Clones

:(

Kakashi sweatdropped at the crude drawing of a sad face, thinking that it wasn't really necessary, especially because it was obvious that the words were carved with a Kunai, so the lines were rather wobbly.

"Well, now what?" Naruto's clone said, sitting down on the ground.

"Now" Kakashi bit his thumb"_Summoning Jutsu!" _

_Poof_

A small dog appeared from the smoke, looking around. Then it saw Kakashi.

"Yo" It raised a paw in greeting.

"Pakkun, I need your help track down my genin. "Kakashi said "The scent should be headed somewhere along with another one, and you need to find them" He was serious.

The dog somehow managed to nod seriously, then it started to sniff the air, before quickly identifying the faint but still there scents.

"One boy and one girl right?" The dog said, and for some reason nobody thought it strange.

"Don't know about the girl, but we're on track" Kakashi shrugged, then motioned for Pakkun to lead them.

Together they ventured in the woods, still ways behind Naruto and Haku.

-Demonic Changes-

Haku was almost spent, and Naruto was still fresh, albeit losing some blood from his cuts, his chakra was still almost full.

It was a joke for Naruto to follow the, by now, almost clumsy girl, as she even left obvious traces of her behind, like snapped twigs and crumpled leafs.

It took a while, but finally Haku reached an hidden out of the way cave, which she then entered hurriedly, her bags of herbs still firmly on her despite the battle.

"Zabuza-sama!" She almost shouted after seeing the man trying to get out of the bed she had prepared for him.

"I didn't expect- What the hell happened to you!" Zabuza instantly sit up on the bed only to wince at the sudden and unexpected pain.

"I-"

"She was in a fight with me, Kis- Zabuza" Naruto appeared behind Haku with a kunai to her neck, ready to strike.

Zabuza and Haku stiffened.

"I'm sorry" Haku bowed her head, tears streaming her face.

"What do you want?" Zabuza said bluntly after giving Haku an annoyed glance. "If you want my head, you'll have to fight me for it!" Incredibly, the Demon of the Mist managed to get up, leaning heavily on his sword which he had taken with his right hand just as he got up.

"I want to know only one thing." Naruto smirked, knowing he had the advantage. "Why are you doing this?" He said seriously.

"Money, brat. It's what makes the world go round, didn't you know?" Zabuza laughed.

"Yes I know _that._ But _why _do you want money? What could an anarchist like you want from money? Do you want to try to assassinate the Mizukage again?" Naruto asked, getting to the crux of the matter.

" Bingo! You guessed right! I want to kill that bastard once and for all." Zabuza said, a bloodthirsty grin on his face.

"And you want to do that at the cost of an entire country? I won't let you do that" Naruto said confidently, feeling Haku stiffen further.

"AH, as if a brat like you co-"

" I have another plan." Naruto interrupted Zabuza "Why instead don't we kill Gatou? Surprised? Yes, I know he's a good merchant, and right now he's trading with Konoha but I see an opportunity, and in the name of my village, I'll take it. No, hear me out" He said to not be interrupted "Killing Gatou is simple, there's no doubt about that. Then, we will divide Gatou's money. Half will go to Wave, and the other half will be all yours, and you will fund an army good enough to overthrow the Mizukage, just as you want. That way when, and not if, you managed your mission, I want an alliance between Kiri and Konoha, and Wave will be also included in a economical alliance with us. Naturally we don't want to advertise to the world that we're allying, but the finer detail will be for the higher ups to decide. Now, what do you say?" Naruto said, extending his arm from behind Haku toward Zabuza, who was staring at him with widened eyes.

Then he laughed.

"Man, you're so full of shit it's funny, but your cunning I'll give you that, and I like your style, kid. So" He took the offered hand and gripped it in vice-like grip "It's a deal" He smirked.

"What's a deal?" Kakashi finally reached the scene.

Naruto groaned and started to explain his plan to his sensei, who nodded.

"Good plan, we'll see you when your healed, Zabuza, then we'll go deal with Gatou, okay?" Kakashi asked, receiving a nod from the missing nin.

"Well, now I think there's a warm breakfast waiting for us, so we'll leave you here in this cold dark cave. Bye" Kakashi eye-smiled and vanished in a shunshin along with his student.

-Demonic Changes-

Kakashi reached with a series of shunshin the clearing, and then he began to shout.

"You brat, what do you think your doing, taking charge like that, who do you think you are to take such decisions, the Hokage? You can't even begin to understand how angry I am right now, so you better explain yourself, and fast!" Kakashi thundered.

Naruto gulped.

"Let me explain let me explain" He put his hand ahead of himself, as if to shield against Kakashi's anger. "I thought it out, if we don't want to go ahead with the deal, then we can just kill them when we go to settle things with Gatou, it work out perfectly, at the very least we have a planned date!" He almost shouted, before calming himself "And it's a good deal, isn't it? We can even make it hush, and be allied without any other nation knowing it, and even if they do discover our alliance, with our alliance with Suna and Mist we would be unapproachable in war! It's a great plan! And I couldn't just let that opportunity pass me by, especially because the other option was bloodshed." Naruto said firmly, his eyes determined.

The two glared at each other, neither wanting to back down.

"And that's the thinking of a chuunin" And then Kakashi broke the tension in a unexpected manner. "Or maybe even a jounin" He mused.

"What" Naruto dropped his jaw.

He thought he was in trouble!

"Yep, that was a test, I wanted to know if it was a decision taken in arrogance or if you had really thought it out, and you managed to surprise me!" Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

"What do you mean I "surprised" you?" Naruto deadpanned.

"Now, you might be wondering how this was a test, right?" Naruto nodded, because how can you value something if you hadn't even seen it? "Well, a Shadow Clone of mine was guarding the bridge at the time of your battle with the girl, and your conversation with Zabuza? I was there all the time." He said smugly. "And I got to say that you have the skills and qualities necessary to be a chuunin, so I'll forward your promotion for exceptional field work." Kakashi gave a thumbs up.

Naruto gaped like a fish.

_Click_

Kakashi quickly took a photo of his face with his camera-for-embarrassing-moments that he always had with him, then, satisfied, he took out his book and started to walk toward Tazuna's house, followed by a zombie-like Naruto, who was still processing his apparent promotion.

By the time they arrived at the door of Tazuna's house, Naruto managed to recover, and was now simply happy, so happy that in fact as he opened the door in all haste, he shouted: "I made Chuunin!" just to inform the whole house of his promotion.

"Don't brag" Then he was hit on the head by Kakashi, who was still reading his book.

"Ok sensei. Hey Sasuke-teme in your fac- OUCH! Did you have to hit me so hard?!" Naruto asked, holding his stomach after Kakashi's elbow was extracted from it. The jounin just continued to walked, giggling as he went, leaving Naruto alone behind.

"Stupid sensei, thinking they know it all" Naruto muttered nonsensically, walking toward the living room, where everyone had just finished breakfast. It was still early in the morning.

He could see Sasuke scowl a little, before he hid it by turning the other side, and Sakura smiling hesitantly at him, as he entered in the living room.

He was happy to see Sasuke scowl, while Sakura hesitant smile unsettled him a little. Was she afraid that their team would be dismantled? Naruto didn't know.

Kakashi excused himself because he wanted to write a letter to the Hokage, informing him of the current situation.

Naruto sat, but the awkwardness of the situation stopped everyone from speaking. Even their hosts seemed to understand the tension and become silent. Every time Naruto thought he worked up the courage to speak, a glare or a shy look from Sasuke or Sakura would stop him, and the situation carried on for a long time, in fact till at least the end of the mission.

The Hokage eventually gave the go ahead with Naruto's plan, while Team 7 trained and guarded needlessly the bridge, which progressed steadily in his completion, till Zabuza contacted them.

Today they were going to take the Gatou Company by storm.

-Demonic Changes-

The operation began before it really started.

They diffused the voice that they were going to relieve Wave of its suppressor in the village the early morning, so that some curios civilian would come to see and report that Konoha, aided by a Mist, even if naturally only after Zabuza hostile takeover they would really know that, had liberated Nami no Kuni from Gatou's grasp.

After that they would met on a small hill from which Gatou's mansion could be easily seen and Kakashi insisted on a "cool" entrance, so the whole team shunshined together to the meeting place, the three genin crouched with their backs exposed to Kakashi, who was standing there with his usual book out, even if somehow he managed to look serious.

"Man, you trained them good" Not to Zabuza though, who busted out laughing as soon as he saw them.

Hell, even Haku had a small amused smile on her face.

Soon though, they became serious.

"I think we're a little overkill for some simple mission like this, but I want my genin to have their first kill in a controlled environment, so it's okay" Kakashi mused casually, which caused different reactions from his genin. Sasuke tightened his glare and Naruto clenched his fists, while Sakura gasped.

"Y-you can't!" Sakura took a step back in horrified realization.

"That's the profession you chose kid, so you better learn to deal with it" Zabuza grunted out, while Haku glanced sadly to the mansion.

"But I don't know..." Sakura was still unsure.

"Sakura" Naruto called her "You're my friend, and I promise that nothing will happen to you, but you have to do this, you have to see if this is the life you want, because if you don't do it now, it could happen some other time, where there's nobody to protect you, and then you would be killed. And I won't allow that." Naruto said with determination.

Sakura gripped one hand with the other and brought them to her chest, still unsure. Then she glanced at Naruto, saw him looking at her with warmth in his eyes, and then at Sasuke, who just grunted and turned the other way, but she managed to catch the hint of worry in his eyes all the same. She steeled herself as best as she could then nodded.

"Fucking finally, let's go torch that place" Zabuza shouted a war-cry, charging the not-so-well defended mansion. In fact, only a small wall separated them from the garden surrounding the villa, and then it was only a matter of seconds to reach the house proper.

On the way, they had to dispatch several guards, and while it was pathetically easy, they still somehow managed to make themselves heard by Gatou, because the merchant, along with a small army, encountered them just outside of his home.

A surprised expression quickly gave way to fear, and then the midget screamed, before scrambling back toward the safety of his home.

"Get them!" Was the only thing he managed to say in a pathetic voice.

The mercenary didn't know what to do for a moment and in the next, Zabuza had cut through almost a quarter of the two hundred strong army while running towards the house, shouting maniacally all the way.

Behind him he left a terrified army and a shocked genin team, because they couldn't believe that human life could be so easily extinguished. It was incredibly humbling in a way.

"Let's go" Kakashi said solemnly, before whispering in Naruto ear "Go after Gatou".

The remaining mercenary organized and charged, while Sasuke, Sakure and Naruto instead charged, somewhat fearful, against them, and Kakashi and Haku stood to oversee and help the young ninjas, to intervene in extreme cases.

Naruto was quick to execute Kakashi's order, and with a quick chakra enhanced leap he jumped over the mercenary army in a somersault, landing perfectly on the other side of the group of bandits in a crouch, sending a challenging smirk at them, after seeing them look awestruck at his almost flying form. Then he took off.

Meanwhile Sasuke used the distraction to get his first kill, the kunai in his hand finding its way to the heart of a man who had the misfortune of being near him. His face was a cold mask, and he managed to clench his bloody weapon away from the soon-to-become corpse to parry an enraged swing by a mercenary, then he kicked him and was soon engaged in the brawl.

Kicks, punches, sword swings were soon becoming too much for him to handle though, and as he saw a large broadsword coming for his head, he knew he couldn't have made it in time to dodge it. Time slowed and permitted him to perfectly see as Kakashi gutted the man from behind with a kunai sparkling with electricity. The jounin eye-smiled at him, pointed at his covered eye, and then was in again in the fight, tearing through his enemy with ease.

Sasuke was confused, but then he understood. The Sharingan! After that it was simpler to follow the movements of the mercenary, so it was easy for him to fight, even if, to his displeasure, he still needed Kakashi to save him two times.

Meanwhile Haku and Sakura were back to back and they were managing their opponents quite well, though Haku had to protect the girl so much that it could be said she was babysitting her, but Sakura was doing her best, even if scared, so she should be praised. Kakashi had duplicated himself to help even in this situation, and soon the enemies dwindled enough that one of the mercenary wised up and escaped.

After that it become a race between the bandits, all running toward the exit in a confused mess.

Sasuke was prepared to give chase, but Kakashi stopped him, shaking his head.

"Why?" He simply asked, swallowing the bile that incessantly tried to rise up his throat.

"Because they were simply paid to do their job. There's no need for cruelty" Kakashi said firmly.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted, then turned to Sakura, and saw her retching on the ground, Haku rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"There there" She said in a caring voice.

Sasuke was a little worried, but didn't let it show.

-Demonic Changes-

Meanwhile Naruto was running toward where he sensed the miniscule presence of Gatou to be, but before that he entered a big room, fit for royalty, where he found Zabuza locked in a power struggle against two swordsmen at the same time. Somehow he managed to look back at him and the sensible bloodlust spiked for a moment in the room, though it was quickly brought back under control.

"Hey kid. I'm sorry, but these two challenged me to a pure sword fight, and I couldn't say no. Though that no chakra rule is a little annoying" Zabuza said almost happily. Then with a grunt he broke his opponents guards and sent them stumbling back, before beginning his offensive, bringing Kubikiriboucho in wide and fast arcs against his two enemies, somehow keeping them both at bay and on the defensive, a bloodthirsty grin on his face.

Naruto's eyes bugged out. He wasn't using chakra? How strong was he?

"Kid, do me a favour and go kill that midget for me, 'kay?" Zabuza said in the middle of a swing, grunting at the end.

"Y-yeah sure" Naruto stuttered, then he ran ahead, away from this impossible battle.

He had to pass some endless hallways before he finally reached a half opened door, which leaded to the outside, and behind it he could sense Gatou running at full speed towards the forest that surrounded the back of his property.

He shunshined in front of him, but he didn't take into account that Gatou was still running, so he crashed head to head with the midget with a loud bang.

"OUCH!" "What the hell!" They shouted as they fell to the ground, both holding their heads. Gatou looked up and then knew what fear is.

A blonde boy so angry that lightning flashed behind him, the clouds darkened in his presence and the mask of a demon emerged from his back, his soulless eyes staring into Gatou as if trying to analyze his soul.

"How-Dare-You-Ruin-My-Entrance!" Naruto said drawing out every words in a crescendo, till he ended shouting.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean t-"

"I Don't Care, if you wanna live, and you want to live, trust me, you'll tell me where you keep your money, and you'll do it now" Shadows started to come alive, clawing their way on a terrified magnate, till they reached his face, and a large claw of darkness traced his cheek, leaving a line of blood in its wake.

"In the bank! Now, let me go" He was a brave man, no doubt about that.

"Oh! You want to joke? Then how about this one, there was once a midget, who walked to his bank, and then ordered that all his money was to be taken cash and handed to a blonde haired ninja!" Then he started to laugh evilly, while a sweatdrop formed behind his head and Gatou looked in a deadpan at him, but didn't dare tempt his luck with the obviously crazy boy.

"Okay, I'll do that, I just want to live!" He thought that if he managed to live, he could contact some of his old "friends" and rid himself of this nuisance.

"Perfect, now give me your hands" Gatou obeyed confusedly.

_Click_

A pair of handcuffs were put on the midget who jumped and stared scared at Naruto, who just motioned for him to move.

In reality it was a genjutsu. It wasn't like Naruto carried handcuffs with him on missions. Yet.

They walked through all the uncountable hallways of Gatou's mansion, the midget walking in front of him, and whenever he slowed down, a kick was enough to remind him to hurry.

They passed Zabuza, who was in the process of bathing his sword in the blood of his enemies, who laid in a pool of blood at his feet. Nothing strange. Naruto sweatdropped.

"Hey kid, what you doing?" Zabuza asked after having finished doing that strange huh...ritual.

"Taking this boy here on a walk" Naruto said cheerfully patting Gatou on the head.

"You too scared to kill him? Got cold feet eh?" Zabuza mocked.

"As if" Naruto scoffed "We need him for the money, he keep it all in a bank, right?" He glared at Gatou who shuffled his feet.

"Well, there is some here too..." He said.

"Where?" Naruto growled.

After taking directions, he made a Kage Bunshin to go collect the money. They continued to walk toward the exit of the mansion, Zabuza and Naruto taking turns at disciplining Gatou whenever he slowed down too much.

They opened the door to the outside, where they found a carnage. More than a hundred bodies were scattered along the once green field, now red with blood. And the stench, oh god the stench! It was unbearable, but Naruto trotted on, pushing a shocked Gatou ahead.

They reunited with the rest of the group, and continued to advance toward the village confidently, Gatou still ahead of them, Kakashi and Sasuke using Katon Jutsu to burn down the house behind them.

"Hey!" Gatou said, before he was kicked again.

Naruto noted Sasuke's Sharingan too.

On the way they encountered stunned civilians, whom took one look at the midget and then began to smile and embrace each other, while a small group ran to the village to inform the others.

Kakashi and Naruto smirked and waved, Sasuke simply crossed his arms and marched on, Sakura and Haku had small content smiles on their face and Zabuza was glaring in every direction, as if still trying to discern any threats that may be attracted to them.

As they reached the village, they saw people disposed on two lines on the road, who began to cheer as soon as they passed through. Soon, the whole village was one big roar, and Gatou, bowing submissively, could only take all their curses walking on. But one day, he swore, he would have his revenge.

The village didn't seem at all like the depressed place they reached the week before, not at all.

They finally reached a strangely well-kept bank, where Gatou signed away all his money, half to Wave, and half to Zabuza and his cause. They got back on the street, where people were still cheering.

Then the midget sighed in relief.

"Now I'm free, right" He arrogantly almost shouted, to let himself be heard by all those around him.

"Hear me Wave! I'll return! And then I'll- GHHHAAAA"

Naruto, with cold emotionless eyes, had lodged a kunai in Gatou's throat. Then he extracted weapon, a river of blood following it.

"You...P-promised!" Gatou said between wheezes and cough, somehow speaking with his damaged throat.

"I did not. You just assumed, and I can't very well let you live, especially after what you were about to say. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not, so I'll spare you the hypocrisy. Now, BURN!" Naruto shouted, and somehow Sasuke understood and sent a small fireball at the man.

Shocked and fearful gasps followed this action, but soon after it seems that the people of Wave remembered Gatou's wrongs, because they began to cheer, till of the body remained only ash, which were blown above the village by a strong wind.

-Demonic Changes-

After the public execution of Gatou, Wave slowly started on the way back to stability and prosperity, the run down village retaking control of their commerce people finally able to have a stable job to the benefit of every family.

Meanwhile the bridge connecting them to the mainland was finally built, assuring them that no more "Gatou" would ever happen, so the morale was quite high.

Zabuza, along with Haku, had departed a day after the execution, returning back to his homeland where he believed he would start to make a difference in the war against Yagura, the Sanbi Jinchuuriki and the current Mizukage.

In his last conversation with Naruto, he had mockingly invited him to help his war efforts, to which the blonde had answered seriously.

"But of course, Zabuza, did you think I would let you have all the fun?" He said with a grin, stunning Zabuza and Haku.

Before the missing nin just shook his head amused.

"See you there then, kid" He said with a wave as he started to disappear in the trees.

"Yeah, it's a promise. And I'm NOT a kid!" Naruto shouted.

Other than that, the time before their inevitable return was pretty calm and uneventful.

As they waved to the saved village, they could hear their murmurs, then a shout.

"Yes, I'll call it THE GREAT NARUTO BRIDGE!" Tazuna shouted with a smirk, and the blonde twitched but walked on.

The first monument dedicated to him! Yes!

* * *

**AN: Well hope you enjoyed that, and I want you to know that I added a "Smart!Naruto" Tag, because I feel that before this chapter I couldn't have done it without thinking it was false. Now I hope I made him seems as smart as I gave him credit to, and still stupid enough to be funny, but that will be fixed with experience. Maybe.**

**Anyway, Read and review! Let me know what you think, even if it's a critique! :)ù**

**And now a little Omake! Enjoy!**

* * *

The day Naruto thought he could beat Kurama

It was a sunny day, and the bright and happy Naruto was reading about his favorite story: The Myth of The Perfect Ninja.

The story narrated of a shinobi who could bend Nature to his will, learn any jutsu after only seeing it once, negate chakra with a glance, spitting and creating a hole so profound it reached the other side of the Elemental Nations-he used that method to defeat his archenemy Moony, the demon that couldn't be beaten.

Well that or he arm-wrestled it to the ground, the stories varied on that.

Anyway, Naruto thought he had figure out how to negate chakra with a glance, it was so simple! This was the day he fought and won against the Kyuubi, he could feel it!

Eh, Kurama won't know what hit him.

That night he went to sleep all pumped up, doing mental exercises to better prepare himself for the fight of a lifetime.

For some reason, he appeared in the sewer system, and he had to walk all the way toward Kurama, twisting hallways after twisting hallways.

He was understandably annoyed, but he was too excited to care, so he put that feelings aside.

He finally entered Kurama's chamber in a run, skidding to a stop in front of the giant hand containing the Fox.

"Hey! Kurama! Come on out if you want your ass to be beaten!" He shouted cockily.

The fox elevated himself to a standing position, sending Naruto an annoyed glance, before remembering his plan. So he grinned, and said in the most honeyed voice he could manage: "Yes Naruto, what is it that you want?" He could taste bile rising in his throat.

"LOOK AT ME GIANT MASS OF CHAKRA" Naruto shouted before laughing maniacally for a bit.

Then he stopped, and began to glare really hard in Kurama's direction, his gaze never dropping.

"..."

Kurama sweatdropped, not knowing what was supposed to happen. But internally he was raging with anger at how much time the brat was making him waste uselessly! If it wasn't for the plan...

An eternity of silence later...

"So...What's supposed to happen" Kurama asked.

"Why aren't you screaming for mercy?" Naruto asked confusedly, his stare starting to waver between Kurama's eyes, then to his fangs, then to his body, as if it would change something or it would miraculously activate his secret technique.

"What? Why should I be?" Kurama asked annoyed at the little boy.

"Because I'm negating your chakra with a glance, stupid!" He sing-songed the last word, making the fox actually began to shake from repressed anger.

"Yes, but that's not what..." Naruto started to pout, his eyes wavering with tears.

Kurama sighed. It's for the plan he reminded himself.

"Oh no! My chakra is being negated, save me! Stop! Noooo" Kurama said monotonously, still not believing that he was really saying that.

"Eheheh, I knew it would work! Now you'll be my friend, because I'm strong!" Naruto said happily.

That brat...

"Yes yes, now that you have shown that you're so strong, I'll let you be my friend. For real" Kurama wanted to sigh again, but it would ruin this special-no, not special, he reminded himself, stupid and useless- moment between him and the brat, and he couldn't allow that.

For the plan naturally.

Naruto started to shake, before with a prolonged cry he started to run toward Kurama arms opened as if to hug him.

"No, you idiot!"

Zzzzzt

And Naruto was electrocuted again.


End file.
